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CONTENTS : 

PART I. 

Movement for Monumenting the Site of Fort Washington 7 

Memorial to the Municipal Authorities t 

Correspondence with James Gordon Bennett, Esq., 

Resulting in His Gift ' ' g 

PART II. 

The Monument and Its Dedication 14 

General Committee of Arrangements 14 

Commemorative Service in Holyrood Church -. ... 15 

Dedication of the Monument 16 

Invocation by Rev. Jesse Lyman Hurlbut, D.D 16 

Address by Hon. Randolph Guggenheimer 17 

Address by Walter Seth Logan, Esq 18 

Address by John Townshend, Esq 22 

Address by Hon. Andrew H. Green 24 

Address by Hon. Azariah Hall Sawyer 27 

Poem by Dr. P. Brynberg Porter 34 

Address by Hon. Hiram Roswell Steele 35 

Remarks by Prof. Fitzgerald Tisdall ^8 

Remarks by Mr. Edward Hagaman Hall 39 

Remarks by Mr. Charles Rollinson Lamb 40 

PART III. 

Fort Washington and Its Related Fortifications 41 

PART IV. 

The Defense and Reduction of Mount Washington 50 

I. Washington Heights at the Time of the Revolution 50 

II. The Preparation for the Storm ^4 

III. The Defenses of the Mount 60 

IV. Camp Life of the Continental Army on the Heights 66 

V. The Trap that Failed yo 

VI. The Patriots' Quarters " ^r 

VII. William Demont, Traitor .'.'■....... 78 

VIII. Operations Around Inwood ^ ^ 82 

IX. The Swing of the Pendulum [[ 8c 

X. The Composition of the Armies of Assault and De- 

fense g 

XL The Hour of Fate g5 

XII. The Defense on the South .'..".'.. 102 

XIII. The Highlanders' Surprise . . . 107 

XIV. The Assault of the Mount ......'.. 113 

XV. The Aftermath of the Battle ' . ' ! 1 in 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 

OPPOSITE 
PAGE 

Scene at the Dedication of the Fort Washington Monu- 
ment Frontispiece. 

Autograph of Col. Robert Magaw 6 

The Fort Washington Monument 8 

HoLYROOD Church i6 

]\L\p OF Fort Washington and Its Related Fortifications 40 
A Topographical Map of the North Part of New York 
Island Exhibiting the Plan of Fort Washington 

(Sauthier-Faden, 1777) ^M 

A Map of Fort Washington and Its Outworks, Indicating 
Present Surroundings and Historic Sites (Reginald 

P. Bolton, 1902) So 

A Diagram of the Opposing Forces at Mount Washington 

November 16, 1776 96 




Officers of 

The Empire State Society 

Sons of the American Revohitiou 

for T 902-1903 

President: 
Walter Seth Logan 

First Vice-President: 
Edward Payson Cone 

Second Vice-President: 
William Allen Marble 

Third Vice-President: 
Charles Wells Wood 

Secretary: 

Louis H. Cornish 

2,^7 BrnadAvay. New York City 

Treasurer: 

Richard Theodore Davies 

14,:; Lilicrtv Street. Xcav York City 

Registrar: 

TkUNIS DiMON HUXTTIXG 
124 Quincy Street. Bronklyn Borou,q;li. New York City 

Historian: 
Generai- Horatio Collins King 

* CJiaf^Iain: 

Rev. Henry Elliott Mott, D.D. 

Managers: 
Maj. Wm. H. Corbusier, U. S. A. William H. Kelly 
J. Lawrence McKeever James de la Montanye 

Charles W. Haskins Dr. Edwin Van D. Gazzam 

Hon. Hiram R. Steele William W. Bliven 

George D. Bangs William H. Wayne 

Dr. Vincent M. Munier William L. Allen 

Theodore Fitch Samuel H. Beach 

Col. Edgar S. Dudley, U. S. A. Abram B. Steele 
Robert R. Law George A. FarnhaMj , 

Nathaniel C. Barnum John i\L Diven 

Clinton Rogers 



"Bctuatcb b^ tbe ino5t oloriouci cause tbat manlun^ 
ever foiujbt in, 11 am ^eter^une^ to ^efc]t^ tbis post 
to tbe last eitrcmit^/' 




/ 



FORT 
WASHINGTON 



An Account of the Identification of the 
Site of Fort Washington, New York 
City, and the Erection and Dedication 
of a Monument thereon Nov. i6, 1901, 
by the Empire State vSociety of the 
Sons of the American Revolution, with 
the Cooperation of the American Scenic 
and Historic Preservation Society 









vith 






A 


HISTORY 


OF 


THF 


DEFENCF 


AND 


REDUCTION OF MOUNT WASHINGTON 




1 -y 


Rigin 


lid Pclh; 


nil Bolum 





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Published by 








THE 


EMPIRE STATE SOCIETY 


OF 


THE 


SONS 


OF 


THE AMERICAN 


REVOLUTION 








NEW YORK: MCMII 







Publication Committee; 



Edward Hagaman Hall, 
Edward Payson Cone, 

James de la Montanye, 
Charles Wells Wood, 
AzARiAii Hall Sawyer. 



FORT WASHINGTON 

PART I 

THE MOVEMENT FOR MONUMENTING THE 
HISTORIC SITE 

AT a meeting of the Empire State Society of the Sons of the 
American Revolution held November 15, 1897, the following 
resolution was passed unanimously: 
^'Resolved, That the following memorial be adopted and signed on 
behalf of the Society by the President and three Vice-Presidents and 
transmitted by the Secretary, under seal of the Society, to His Honor, 
the Afayor and the Municipal Assembly of the City of New York. 

MEMORIAL. 

To THE Honorable Mayor and Municipal Assembly 
OF THE City of New York. 

Gentlemen : The Empire State Society, of the Sons of the American Revolu- 
tion, assembled on the eve of the 121st anniversary of the capture of and massacre 
at Fort Washington, respectfully requests you to take the proper steps to mark 
permanently that historic spot. It is a reproach to the pjtriotism, civic pride and 
■generosity of that city that this spot, on which occurred the greatest disaster to 
American arms during the War for American Independence (according to an 
eminent American historian), is so neglected that it can now be identified only 
witli great difficulty, by two remaining bastions which are rapidly disappearing 
under the action of the elements. If prompt action is not taken permanently to 
mark this site, its location will soon be involved in the same doubt and historical 
dispute that for many years, and until quite recently, enveloped the actual scene 
•of the Battle of Harlem Heights. The misleading position of the name "Fort 
Washington," on some of the maps of the city, the diversity of locations attrib- 
uted to it in popular opinion, and the practical difficulties which a visitor encoun- 
te^^ in finding it, demonstrate that this sacred spot is rJready passing into the 
shade iw of doubt which precedes complete loss of identification. 

.Manhattan Island was the theatre of but two military engagements during the 
War (if the American Revolution. The first and minor was the Battle of Harlem 
Heights, on September 16, 1776, on the day after the unresisted invasion of the 
Island by the British. In this engagement the American los; was about 20 or 25 
in killed and wounded. The second and more important was the capture of Fort 
Washington, on November 16, 1776. In the latter, after their gallant and 
desperate resistance of an enemy outnumbering them more than five to one, and 
Tiaving sustained a loss behind their works of 150 killed and wounded, while 
inflicting a loss of 500 killed and wounded upon their adversaries, the Americans 



8 



Fort Washington, New York Citv. 



yielded to an overwhelming force, and surrendered 3,000 prisoners of war * tO" 
languish in British dungeons or perish on British prison-ships. The Hessian- 
mercenaries of the British, enraged by the desperate resistance which they had 
encountered, violated the laws of humanity and civilized warfare by wreaking 
their vengeance in a horrible butchery of their helpless captives ; while Washing- 
ton, contemplating the scene from a distance, wept like a child at the fate of his 
heroic companions-in-arms, which he was powerless to fvert. On that date the 
last vestige of American authority disappeared from the Island of Manhattan- 
until the evacuation of the Island by the British seven years and nine days later, 
after American Independence had been won. The loss cf Fort Washington was 
a crushing blow to the American cause. 

We respectfully represent to your Honorable Body that the importance of 
that historical event and the greatness of the sacrifice then made, warrant you, 
and the present state of historical interest justifies you, I'n making such moderate 
appropriations as may be necessary for permanently and effectively marking this 
spot which to-day has neither stone, post nor finger-board to assist in its identifi- 
cation, and which is known only to a few residents of the vicinity, our city officials, 
and a handful of historical students. As the site lies immediately within the pri- 
vate property boundary on the western side of the Fort Washington Road, about 
in range with 183d street, we suggest that if the acquisition of a parcel of land' 
for a small public park be impracticable, a substantial but not elaborate granite 
arch spanning the public highwa)' at that point, properly inscribed, would be a 
suitable and effective means of marking the place. The Fort Washington Road, in 
conjunction with the Boulevard Lafayette, is destined to become one of the most 
popular and picturesque pleasure drives in the city; and in the near future thou- 
sands instead of hundreds will daily pass in ignorance of the spot most deeply 
stained with the blood of our patriotic ancestors on the Island of Manhattan, and' 
the spot which ought most reverently to be cherished in liie hearts of our liberty- 
loving people. 

Signed in behalf of the Empire State Society. Sons af the American Revolu- 
tion, this 15th day of November, A. D. 1897, ^"d of the Independence of the 
United States the I22d. 

Ch.\unclv M. Depew. 

President. 
Robert B. Roosevelt, 

Fice-President. 

W.\LTER S. L0G.\N, 

Vice-President. 
R.\LPH E. Prime, 

Vice-President. 

Stephen M. Wright, 

Secretary. 




In pur.suance of the foreg-oing- resolution, the following- Committee 
was appointed to present the Memorial to the Mayor and Municipal 
Assembly, together with sucli additional information as they might 



*Good authorities ditTcr as to the exact numbers engaged and the los.ses^ sus- 
tained on either side. Tlie foregoing stateiuents are based on John Fi.ske"s "The 
American Revolution." 




I'l.iri' \\ ASH I xi;ti IX Mi ixi m i;x'i', .\i:\\ ihuk i irv. 



CORRESPONDEXCR WITH J. G. BeNXETT 9 

•deem a(lvisal:)le : Compatriots Edward Hag-aman Hall, Gen. Horatio 
C. King, Col. Ralph Earl Prime, Capt. Stephen Mott Wright, William 
Watkins Kenly and Walter Romeyn Benjamin. 

On May 3, 1898, the Committee, accompanied 1)\- the Hon. Robert 
B. Roosevelt (then First Vice-President of the Society), called upon 
His Honor the Mayor, and laid before him the printed ^Memorial of the 
Society, together with a statement concerning the identity of the site of 
Fort Washington " and a brief sketch of the Battle of Xovember 
16, 1776. 

The effort to secure the marking of the historic site 1)\- the Munici- 
pal authorities was unavailing; but great public interest was aroused 
and the Society was obliged to print a second edition of its brochure on 
the subject. 

During the summer of 1901, as the result of a conference between 
Compatriot \\'alter S. Logan, President of the Empire State Society of 
the Sons of the American Revolution, and the representative of the Hon. 
Andrew H. Green, President of the American Scenic and Historic 
Preservation Societ}-,the following letter was addressed by the Secretary 
of the latter Society to James Gordon Bennett, Esq., owner of part of 
the l-^jrt ^^'ashington ])ro])erty: 



THE AMERICAN 

SCENIC AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION SOCIETY. 

Office of the Secretary, 

Tribune Building, Xeiv York. 

jiugust 21, 1901. 
James Gordon Bennett, Esq., 

Bureau of the Nezc York Herald, 

Paris, France. 
De.\r Sik : On November 16, 1901, occurs the I25ih anniversary of the battle 
■of Fort Washington, the citadel of which stood immediately south of your house 
•on Fort Washington avenue, on what I am inft)rnied is }our property. 

The Empire State Society of llic Sons ot the American Revolution, with 
the co-operation of the American Scenic and Ilistori-- Preservation Society, 
desires to mark the site with some a-ppropriate memorial and to celebrate the event 
on the approaching anniversary. 

In examining the locality, the most eligible spot for a memorial appears to 
be the rock on the western side of the avenue, a few feet south of the entrance to 
your place. I enclose a photograph of the rock, which is about 12 feet high, and 
a map showing that it is on — or, more strictly speiikin-;. undor — the site of the 
•northeast bastion of the fort. 

In behalf of the two organizations above-mentionC'l, ;.nJ many individuals 
interested in the subject, I write to ask you: 



*Sce " Fort Washington and Its Kelalc-d Fnrtitications." reprinted on page 
\i , et seq. , 



lo Fort Washington, New York City. 

1. Will you permit the erection on this spot of a memorial of the character 
of the design tirst mentioned hereafter, without expense to 3'-ourself ? 

2. Or will you contribute to. or bear the whole expense of a memorial of 
the character of the second design mentioned hereafter? In the event of your 
bearing the expense, it would not be unreasonable that you personally, or the 
New York Herald, should receive due credit for the exeaition of the enterprise. 

3. If you think favorably of the suggestions herein- contained, wrll you appoint 
a "minister plenipotentiary" here in New York, with whom we can consult con- 
cerning plans, etc., unless you prefer to have them submitted to yourself across 
the water? 

The two forms of memorial suggested are as follows : 

FIRST PLAN. 

To consist of a dressed stone, about 4 feet long by 3 feet high, set into the face- 
of the rock, and bearing a bronze tablet with the following inscription : 

This Tablet Marks the Site of 

FORT WASHINGTON, 

Constructed by the Continental Troops in the Sunmier of 1776, 

Lost to the British After an Heroic Defense, Nov. 16, 1776. 

Repossessed by the Americans 

Upon Their Triumphal Entry Into the City of New York,. 

November 25, 1783. 



Erected by 

The Empire State Society of the 

Sons of the American Revolution, 

November 16, 1901. 

Above this tablet, on the top of the rock, to be laid a stone, about a foot thick,. 
6 or 8 feet wide, and 8 or 10 feet long, to bear on the front edge the words FORT 
WASHINGTON, and to serve as the platform of a cannon, which can probably 
lie obtained from the Government. 

This plan will cost about $500, and we can erect it without financial assistance. 

SECOND PLAN. 

This plan contemplates the erection in the face of the rod-c of a wayside 
seat, of stone, with certain architectural embellishments, such as two columns sup- 
porting an entablature and embracing a bronze tablet. This would be more pre- 
tentious and beautiful, and would cost about $1,500. In the event of your bearing', 
the expense of this memorial. I should suggest the insertion on ihe tablet, after the 
word "Erected," the line, 

"Through the generosity of James Gordon liennett. Esq." 

I need not add anything aliout the stirring memories connected with this- 
site. Much has been made of the Battle of Harlem, which was an insignificant 
skirmish compared with the Battle of Fort Washington. The latter was the most 
important military conflict on Alanhattan Island, and the heroism there displayed 
and the sacrifices there made are deserving of some sort of recognition on the 
approaching 125th anniversary. 

\'ery truly yours. 

Edward Hagaman H.vll. 



CoRRESl'OXDl-:XCE WITH J. G. BeXXETT. II 

The foregoing- letter was aeconipanied b_\ a photograpli of the rock, 
a map of the site, sketches of the two designs, and a copy of the I*'ort 
Washington brochure piibhshed by the Sons of the American Re\olu- 
tion in 1898. In reply, Mr. Bennett wrote as follows: 

LYSISTRATA. 

Venise, Sept. 15, igoi. 

Dear Sir: In reply to your letter of August 21st I l,eg to say that I shall he 
happy to give your society the permission to erect a memorial of Fort Washin-jtoiT 
upon my property in Fort Washington avenue, and also to bear the entire expense 
of the memorial, which I note from your estimate will amount to $1,500 (fifteen 
hundred dollars), according to the second plan, which I prefer. If you will send 
me the details I will give all necessary instructions for the carrying out ot this 
work. 

Yours very truly, 

T. G. Bennett. 
E. H. Hall, Eso. 



Mr. Bennett's very generous response was acknowledged by the 
following letters from the Secretaries of the two Societies : 

THE AMERICAN 
SCENIC AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION SOCIETY. 



Oflicc of the Secretary, 
Tribune Building, Netv York. 



October I, igoi. 



James Gordon Bennett, Esq., 

Paris, France. 

My Dear Sn< : I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of the istlr 
ult., from Venice, consenting to the erection of a memorial on the site of Fort 
Washington, and offering to bear the expense of it yourself. I thank you very 
sincerely in behalf of those for whom I wrote, and add the assurances of my own 
very great appreciation. 

I reported your offer to the Board of Management of the Sons of the Ameri- 
can Revolution at a special meeting called for that purpose last evening, and the 
Secretary of that Society will communicate to you their action. They have already 
begun to arrange for the dedication, and will endeavor to make it commensurate 
with the significance of the occasion. 

Repeating our assurances of appreciation, I remain. 

Very truly yours, 

Edward Hagajian Hall, 
: Secretary. 



12 Fort ^^^\SIIINGTo^^ New York City. 

EMPIRE STATE SOCIETY, 
SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

Headquarters, 
112,3 Broatlzi'oy. Xcze York. 

October i, 1901. 
James Gordon Bexnett, Esq., 

Paris, l^rancr. 

De.\r Sir: I have the honor to inform yon that at a special meeting of the 
Board of Management of the Empire State Society, of the Sons of the American 
Revolution, held last evening, the following resolutions concerning the erection 
of a memorial on the site of Fort Washington, to be dedicated November i6th 
ne,\t, were adopted : 

''Resolved, That the action of Compatriot Edward Hagaman Hall in taking 
the preliminary steps concerning the marking of the site of Fort Washington be 
ratified and approved. 

"Resolved, That the Empire State Society of the Sons of the American Revo- 
lution gratefully acknowledges and accepts the offer of James Gordon Bennett, 
Esq., contained in his letter from Venice, dated September 15. IQOI, to bear the 
expense of erecting a memorial on the site of Fort Washington, on his property in 
Fort Washington avenue. New York City, and extends to him its very hearty 
appreciation of his generous act. This beautiful and enduring memorial, while 
commemorating the heroic sacrifices that have made the site sacred to all Ameri- 
cans, will also stand as a renewed evidence of the public spirit and liberality of 
the donor, and of the pride in American citizenship which a distinguished father 
and son have cultivated through the instrumentality of an enlightened public 
press for three-quarters of a century. 

"Rcsolz'cd, That the plan for the memorial submitted by Compatriot Charles 
R. Lamb, of the tirm of J. & R. Lamb, be approved, subject to any modifications 
suggested by ]\Ir. Bennett, Mr. Lamb and Mr. Hall. 

"Resolved, That the Board of Management of this Society be constituted a 
Committee of Arrangements to prepare for the dedication of the memorial on 
November i6th next, the President of this Society to be Chairman of the same, 
and that the said Committee have power to add to its numbers. 

"Resolved, That the thanks of this Society be extended to the American 
Scenic and Historic Preservation Society for its co-operation in this vmdertaking, 
and that it be requested to appoint a connniltee. of which its President shall be a 
member, to act in conjunction with and as a part of the Conmiittee of Arrange- 
ments of this Society." 

Enclosed you will find a copy of the detailed plan for the memorial, prepared 
by J, & R. Lamb, of 59 Carmine street, New York City; also a formal estimate for 
the construction of the work. Mr. Lamb says that if you will order the work by 
cable upon receipt of this communication, it can be finished by November 16. 

The Committee on Arrangements will proceed at once with the preparations 
for the Dedicatory Ceremonies. Tt is proposed to make them as impressive as 
possible. The Governors of New York and Pennsylvania (the fort was built by 
Pennsylvania troops) will be invited to speak, and the State and United States 
authorities will be asked for military representation. We had both military and 
naval representations at the dedication of our monument at Washington's Head- 
iinarters in Dobb's Ferry, in 1894. 



CoRKRM'ONDKXCi-: W 111 [ j. ( i. I ')KXNE IT. IJ. 

We wilt be very happ}- to receive any suggestions from you concerning the' 
ceremonies. W'e -.Iiall. of course. c>q)ect you or your representatives to partici- 
pate. 

\\ e should like to conform t(i your wishes if you will indicate them in regard 
to publicly announcing your gift and the arrangements for the dedication. Would 
you prefer to announce it first through the Herald, or have it given out to all the 
papers simultaneously ? 

May we ask of you the favor of an acknowledgment of the receipt of this 
letter by cable, so that wo may be assured that it has reached you promptly? Is- 
it best to address you at Paris, or can we connnunicate with you more quickly at 
some other address? 

With renewed assurances of the Society's appreciation of your patriotic inter- 
est in this matter, I remain. 

Yours very truly, 

Edwin Van Deusen G.\zrAM. 

In reply to the latter, Mr. Bennett eabled from Syraen.'^e, Sicily, as 
follo\v.s : 

SiK.\cu.s.\, October 20, 1901. 
Gazzam , 

1123 Broad'way. Xc:^' ]'orl:. 

Letter October i received. What your Society proposes satisfactory. Have 
no suggestion ofifer. Announce through all papers. My mail address, 104 Champs 
Elysees, Paris. Cable address, Namouna, Paris. 

Bennett. 



14 



Fort Washington, New York Citv. 



PART II. 
THK MONUMENT AND IIS DKDICATION. 

Immediately upon the receipt of Air. Bennett's comnnuiication. 
President Walter S. Logan of the Emjiire State Society, Sons of the 
American Revolution, with the co-operation of the Hon. Andrew H. 
Green, President of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation 
Society, appointed from the memhership of the two Societies the follow- 
ing General Committee of Arrangements, himself accepting the Chair- 
manship by recjuest : 

GENERAL COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS. 

Walter S. Logan, Chairman, 
Edwin Van D. Gazzam, Secretary. 



James Gordon Bennett. 
Hon. Andrew H. Green, 
Trueman G. Averv. 
George D. Bangs, 
Herbert B. Bis sell. 
Reginald P. Bolton, 
George C. Batcheller, 
Col. John C. Calhoun. 
Edward Pavson Cone. 
Maj. W. H. Corbusier. U 
Louis H. Cornish, 
Richard T. Davies. 
James de la Montanye, 
Hon. Chauncey M. Depew, 
Gen. Ferdinand P. E.arle, 
Franklin A. Ethridge, 
Theodore Fitch, 
William H. Flitner, 
Edward Hagaman Hall, 
Charles W. Haskins. 
Hon. Hugh Hastings, 
Teunis D. Huntting, 
Rev. Jesse L. Hurlbut, D.D., 
Richard C. Jackson, 
William H. Kelly. 



Gen. Horatio C. King. 
Charles B. Knox. 
Charles R. Lamb. 
William A. Marble. 
Col. a. G. Mills. 
Vincent M. Munier. 
Rev. C. Morton Murray. 
W. A. Muschenheim. 
Charles L. Nichols. 
S. A., Dr. Charles N. Palmer. 

Col. Ralph E. Prime, 
Charles B. Provost, 
MoN. C. A. Pugsley. 
Carroll C. Rawlings, 
Charles A. Rich, 
Hon. Robert B. Roosevelt^ 
Hon. Hiram R. Steele. 
Ira Bliss Stewart, 
Albert J. Souier, 
Albert Ulmann, 
John R. Van Wormer, 
William W. J. Warren, 
William H. Wayne. 
Capt. Stephen M. Wright, 
Henry B. Younc;. 



The monument designed by Mr. Charles Rollinson Lamb was 
erected against and upon the living rock on which the northeastern 
bastion of Fort Washington stood. It is located on the western side of 
Fort Washington avenue, in a line with 183d street, at the highest ele- 



Memorial Services in Holyrood Church. 15 

vation of any pu1:)lic drive on Manhattan Island. It is composed of 
-marble, granite and l^ronze. and consists of a wayside seat, flanked by 

two pilasters and surmounted Ly an entablature. These features 
•embrace a tablet whicli l3ears tlie following inscription : 

THIS MEMORIAL MARKS THE SITE OF 

FORT WASHINGTON, 

CONSTRUCTED I!V THE CONTINENTAL TROOPS IN THE 

SUMMER OF 1776, 

TAKEN BY THE BRITISH AFTER AN HEROIC DEFENCE 

NOVEMBER l6, I776. 

REPOSSESSED BY THE AMERICANS 

UPON THEIR TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO THE CITY OF 

NEW YORK NOVEMBER 25, I783. 

ERECTED THROUGH THE GENEROSITY OF 

JAMES GORDON BENNETT 

BY 

THE EMPIRE STATE SOCIETY OF THE SONS OF THE 

AMERICAN REVOLUTION NOVEMBER 16, I9OI. 

SITE REGISTERED BY THE AMERICAN SCENIC AND 

HISTORIC PRESERVATION SOCIETY. 

On the elevated ground level with the top of the entablature and 
forming a part of the memorial is a concrete platform, supporting a 
cannon. 

The monument was dedicated with elaborate and impressive cere- 
monies on Saturday, November i6, 1901. The day was ideal, the sky 
heing almost cloudless, and the air warm and still. 

The exercises of the day began with a Memorial Service at 1 1 A. M. 
in Holyrood Protestant Episcopal Church, situated on the battlefield at 
Broadway (Kingsbridge road) and One Hundred and Eightv-first 
street. The rector, the Rev. C. Morton Murray, officiated, assisted by 
Canon John Harris Knowles, Rev. Thomas H. Sill, Rev. L. H. Schwab, 
Rev. Frederick Greaves, Rev. Dr. John T. Patey, Rev. Geo. F. Clover, 
Rev. Alexander Hamilton and Rev. Dr. Randall C. Hall. The service 
was one especially authorized b}- the bishop of the diocese for the 
occasion. 

During the day there was an exhibition of relics from the IJattle- 
field of Fort Washington in the Guild Room of Holyrood Church. The 
exhibition proved so interesting that it was kept open for several weeks 
after the celebration. 

Another interesting feature of the dedication was the placing of 
guide-boards to mark the salient features of the battlefield within the 
radius of about a mile around the fort. With the aid of the map and 
liistorical sketch printed in the programme, students of historv were 



i6 P^'oRT Washington, New York City. 

able to trace the movements of the battle and locatg the sites of the 
principal operations of November i6, 1776. 

At 1.30 p. M. a procession was formed at One Hundred and Eighty- 
seventh street and Amsterdam avenue, and proceeded in the following; 
order to the monument : 

Platoon of Police. 

Dr. E. V. D. Gazzam, Marshal, and Aides. 

Eighth United States Artillery Band. 

United States Coast Artillery from Governor's Island. 

First Battery Artillery, N. G. N. Y., Capt. Louis Wendel. 

Colors of the Empire State Society, S. A. R. 

Detail from Washington Continental Guard of New York. 

Detail from First Regiment of Minute Men, of Washington, D. C. 

Band of the New York Juvenile Asylum. 

Boys of the New York Deaf and Dumb Asylum. 

Citizens and School Children. 

At Broadway (formerly called Kingsbridge road) ,thc line of march 
covered a portion of the route taken by the American Army when it 
repossessed Fort Washington in 1783. 

Upon the arrival of the procession at the Fort, the troops were 
drawn up facing the monument, and the memorial was unveiled simul- 
taneously with the playing of "The Star Spangled Banner " by the 
Eighth United States Artillery Band ; the firing of a national salute by 
Wendel's Battery stationed within the old Fort, and the hoisting of the 
United States Flag by Compatriot Christopher R. Forbes, a lineal 
descendant of John Van Arsdale, who raised the flag at the Battery in 
New York city when it was evacuated by the British in 1783. 

President Walter Seth Logan then introduced the Chaplain of the 
Empire State Society, Sons of the American Revolution, the Rev. Jesse 
Lyman Hurlbut, D.D., who offered the following invocation : 

INVOCATION BY REV. JESSE LYMAN HURLBUT, D.D. 

"Our Father and our God ! Thou wast the God of our fathers, and 
in the triumph that Thou hast given to this nation, and the guardianship 
which Thou hast exercised, we recognize Thy care and Thy grace. We 
thank Thee, O God, that in the days of old Thou didst call forth heroes 
to found a nation. We praise Thee for their courage ; we praise Thee 
for their self-sacrifice. We especially praise Thee here and now for the 
noble body of men, who on this spot, gave up their lives — many of them 
in prisons — for the land that they loved, and gave up their lives will- 
ingly. We thank Thee, our Father, that Thou hast watched over the 
destinies of this nation and hast made it even greater than our fathers 
could have dreamed. We thank Thee that Thou hast raised up men to- 



Address r.v Randolph Guggeniieimer. 17 

take their places. We pray Thee, our Father, that we may be worthy 
of the great heritage that we possess, of the great opportunities that rise 
before us ; and as we look upon this memorial, as we recount the events 
of the past, we ask Thee that we may have that same reverence for Thee, 
that saiue love of country that marked our fathers here. Guide us in 
the future as Thou hast guided us as a people in the past. Crown all 
our efforts with Thy blessing and bring us to Thy place in glory. All 
this we ask in the name ot Thy Son, Jesus Christ. Amen." 

By the President : "There is but one New York City in the world. 
It sometimes differs on great questions. There was a difference of 
opinion in New York a few days ago, but there is only one opinion now, 
and we are a unit. New York is always a unit in its patriotism. What- 
ever criticism may have been made fi"om time to time on this City, none 
of it has ever touched the President of the Municipal Council, and we are 
a unit here to-day in greeting the Hon. Randolph Guggeniieimer, Presi- 
dent of the Municipal Council of The City or New York, and its repre- 
sentative. 

ADDRESS BY THE HON. RANDOLPH GUGGENHEIMER. 

"This is a day of historic retrospect. The memorial which marks the 
site of Fort Washington and records in imperishable letters the superb 
patriotism of the Revolutionary Fathers, will through all the future 
years inspire Americans with loyalty to the old flag. The work accom- 
plished by the Empire State Society of the Sons of the American Revo- 
lution and The American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society in 
identifying the places in which the founders of this Republic ventured 
their lives in their immortal struggle for freedom, is set from a patriotic 
standpoint beyond all value. 

"Americans who are proud of the heroism of their ancestors owe a 
deep debt of gratitude to these societies, and in this special instance to 
Mr. James Gordon Bennett, who has presented the memorial which will 
be dedicated to-day to mark the site of Fort Washington. Incidents 
such as these prove that patriotism is not dead, but that it still lives in 
the hearts and intellects of the American people whose sincerest aspira- 
tion to-day is, that they will be able to hand down to their children the 
heritage which they received intact and unstained from the hands of the 
Revolutionary Fathers." 

"I take great pleasure in accepting this beautiful memorial in behalf 
of The City of New York." 

The assemblage then repaired to the tent within the Fort, where 
the literary exercises were held. They were opened by an address by the 
President as follows : 



TiS Fort Washington, New York City. 



AbDRESS BY PRESIDENT WALTER SETII LOGAN. 

"I told Dr. Murray that if 1 could conduct the services in this tent 
as well as he conducted the exercises in the church, it would be a great 
success. I am sure that if Colonel Magaw, one hundred and twenty- 
five years ago, had shot his cannon as straight across the river as Canon 
Knowles shot in the church this morning, the British never would have 
got past them. 

"We are standing to-day on hallowed ground. Here one hundred 
-and twenty-five years ago, three thousand troops, the flower of the 
American Army, after a sturdy resistance to overwhelming numbers of 
their foes, surrendered to their enem}-. They did not surrender, how- 
ever, until five hundred Hessians had jjitten the dust. They did not sur- 
render until defence was no longer possible and surrender was the only 
thing left them to do. They were made prisoners of war nominallv ; 
really they were executed ; most of them by slow torture on the English 
prison ships. As the day we are celebrating was the darkest dav in 
American history, so the treatment of the prisoners here captured is the 
blackest page in English history. 

"A swift ship was sent across the ocean bearing the news to George 
HI of the victory of British arms. The British Army was sent across 
the Hudson to chase Washington and his army across the Jerseys and 
down into Pennsylvania. Wherever the British fiag floated there was 
rejoicing at the news of the victory here. Wherever a band of Ameri- 
can patriots was gathered together, there was the weeping of bitter tears 
and despairing of their country's fate; l)ut across the river on yonder 
heights there stood a man watching the conflict which he could not take 
part in, and a surrender which he could not prevent ; and he never 
desjpaired of his country and its cause. WHiatever anyone else thought 
that iiiglit, Washington was thinking how he might wipe out the 
memory of the defeat by some decisive victory. 

"Forty days passed away; forty days of trouble and trial for the 
American Army and its Commander ; forty nights of worr>- and wake- 
fulness. During those forty days they chased Washington and his 
army — what there was left of it — from the Hudson to the Delaware, and 
across the Delaware to Pennsylvania. They chased him from river to 
river, and from state to state, never giving him a moment's rest. But 
the forty days passed away and it was the morning after Christmas, 
1776. That Commander who had been chased through New Jersev and 
Pennsylvania — that Commander who had been given scarcely a 
:moment's rest since the battle here — that Commander and his armv 
:appeared before the British in Trenton, and the scales were turned. 



Addrrss 1!v Walter S. Logan. 



19 



Tlicrc had been feasting that Christmas wherever the British flag 
floated. The EngHsh people— the partisans of George III in Englana, 
for they did not really represent the English people — had feasted over 
the news that they had reeeived of the Battle of Long Island ; they had 
not yet heard of the conflict at Eort Washington. There was feasting 
here in New York : chamixigne among the officers and l^eer among the 
men. Was not the British trium])hant everywhere and the war at an 
■ end .-' There was feasting in Trenton and the Hessians there had gone 
on a glorions drunk. Forty days had passed away. The ship that\vas 
sent to carr> the news to George III. had not arrived on the other side. 
The flowers that the young Tory maidens of New York had woven into 
•garlands in celebration of the victory of their cause had scarcely faded. 
It was the morning after Christmas, 1776. and Washington and his 
ami)- appeared before the British headquarters at Trenton, and the 
Hessians were sleeping after their night's drunk. The guards even were 
too drunk to give the warning: and almost without the firing of a shot, 
^ one thousand English soldiers were taken prisoners of war and the day 
at Trenton was won before sunrise. Seven days more had passed awav. 
'Cornwallis, when he heard the news from Trenton, postponed his holi- 
day trip to Europe ; he did not take it until after the Battle of Yorktown. 
He postponed his holida>- trip, for he had other business to attend to, 
; and again he started down through the Jerseys to chase Washington and 
his army ; he caught up with him on the banks of the Assanpink. It was 
late at night, and Cornwallis, who was paifl by the day and did not like 
to work overtime, said: "1 will wait until morning and will bag the old 
fox." He rose early in the morning, but the "old fox" was not there to 
be bagged ; and before Cornwallis had had his breakfast, the news came 
to him tliat Washington had attacked Princeton, and won the day, cap- 
turing many prisoners. Cornwallis came hoiue ; and Washington and 
his army went to Morristown, where from the heights he could watch 
every movement of the British troops here in New York 

"In a few months there followed Saratoga, and Burgovne was 
bagged that time. Then followed that winter at \"allev Forge where 
Washington forged the army that was to become the liberators of their 
country. Then came alternate defeat and victory. Afterwards, 
Camden, King's Mountain, Eutaw Springs, and finally came Yorktown. 
The news was sent by swift messenger, this time by land, to every corner 
of the American nation which had just been born ; it was carried as fast 
as horse and rider could go— the news that America was free. 

"They tell the story of the one Quaker watchman in Philadelphia. 
The Philadelphia police force then consisted of one man ; he was Com- 
missioner, Superintendent, Roundsman and high private. It was his 
■duty to patrol the streets o{ Philadelphia— the\- were not very long— and 



20 Fort Washington, New York City 

shout the hours of the night; the hours and half hours as they passed. 
The messenger came riding in from Yorktown bearing the news of 
Yorktown at 2.29 in the morning. That faithful old Quaker policeman' 
must do his duty, and must shout the hours and the half hours as of 
yore ; but his heart was full of the victory of his country, and so he went 
through the streets of Philadelphia shouting — 'Half -past 2 in the 
morning and Cornwallis is taken.' Half-past 2 in the morning and 
American liberty is won. Half-past 2 in the morning and there are no 
more kings to rule in America. Half -past 2 in the morning and the 
dawn of a new civilization has come in. The time of the surrender here 
at Fort Washington was the midnight of American liberty. The sur- 
render at Yorktown was half-past 2 in the morning as the sun's rays 
came glimmering over the walls. It is half-past nine now. What will 
be our country and her civilization when it comes to half-past two in the 
afternoon ? What will it be ? 

"I could not pass a civil service examination in theology which 
Dr. Murray subjected me to this morning, but .when I look at the 
splendid life and career of George Washington, I do not hesitate to say 
that whatever may be my theology, his God is my God, and the religion 
that inspired him to the glorious deeds that he performed during and 
after the Revolution, is the religion which I hope will be an inspiration 
to my children who come after me. We may believe that the spirit of 
George Washington is here to-day ; and what does he see ? He sees a 
city larger than the nation which he founded. He sees a nation grown 
ten times in territory and more than twenty times in population since the 
surrender at Fort Washington. He sees a great city on the banks of the 
Potomac that bears his name. In that city there is a noble shaft to his 
memory, which Canon Knowles told us of this morning. I think that if 
we imagine that he goes back among the angels to-night and reports 
what he has seen to-day, he will be prouder of the monument that we 
have just dedicated — small though it may be — than the monument which 
was reared by loving hands in the city which bears his name. 

"But the great part of the result which has been achieved since 
then has been accomplished by the soldiers and sailors of the Army and 
Navy of the United States, but not all of it. If Washington were here 
to-day he would see a country which, instead of extending from Maine 
to Florida, and one hundred miles back from the Atlantic Coast 
(wherever the British had not got a footing), he would see a country 
extending from the Pacific Ocean to the Orient, and from the Yukon 
to San Juan and Porto Rico. He would see the language which he 
spoke when he was here, which was only spoken by twenty millions, now 
spoken by one hundred and twenty millions. He would see the English- 
speaking people of the earth the dominant force in it. And Washington,. 



Address by Walter S. Logan. 21 

if 1k" is here lo-day. if Washington is watching onr efforts now, he may 
well ])e proud of the work that he did and the work that the American 
Army did one hundred and twenty-five years ago. And if Washington 
is here to-day, if the spirit of Washington is here, I think the spirit of 

■ Colonel Magaw, wdio so gallantly defended this fort, is also here ; and he 
will be proud to know that one of his lineal descendants is here, bearing 
his share of the honor and glory of to-day. 

"l>ut nuich as we may pay tribute to the soldiers and sailors of the 
American Army and Navy, it has been x'Vmerica's men of peace who have 

■done the most. Washington was at his greatest, not as Commander-in- 
Chief of the Army t)f the United States, but as Chairman of the Consti- 
tutional Convention of 1787, and as first President of the United States. 
Hamilton did great work at Yorktown. He stormed those redoubts gal- 
lantly, but we remember Alexander Hamilton as the man who organized 
the Treasury Department of the United States. Yes, side by side with 
Washington, sharing the honors of the Revohition, are two great and 
glorious men of peace who never bore arms — Benjamin Franklin and 
Thomas Jeff'erson. Jackson is remembered to-day, not so much for his 
victory at New Orleans as for his veto of the United States Bank Bill, 
and his ])rompt action in suppressing the nullifiers of South Carolina. 
The gr^at figure of the Civil War is not Grant, nor Sherman, nor Sheri- 
dan, but the lawyer and man of peace — Abraham Lincoln. And when you 
come to the S])anish War, we honor Dewey, and Sampson, and Schley 
(or Schley and Sampson ) ; we honor Miles, Merritt, Shafter and Roose- 
velt ; but the supreme commander of the Army and Navy of the United 
States during that war, the man ^vhose level head and decisive jtidgment 
were always at the ser\-ice of his country; the man who, perhaps, did 
more than any other to bring about the glorious result, was William 
McKinlc}-, the law_\er, a man of peace, who deserved a better fate than 

■death by an assassin's bullet. There was in that war a man who led his 
regiment up the hill at San Juan, and who came home to be a patriotic 

'Governor of New York and a patriotic President of the L'nited States. 
The men of peace have done their part, and their full part, to make the 
American nation what it is. 

'Tf I should name the three great events if history, three great 

■events which our race is proud of, I should name first that event which 
occurred on the green island of Runnymede where the Barons wrested 
from the unwilling hands of King John, that first real token of English 
liberty — Magna Charta ; and, second, the assemblv of the Constitutional 
Convention of 1787 with Washington at its head, for there was framed 
a plan of governmenl which is being imitated all over the world. I 
should name the third, the Peace Congress at The Hague, the object of 

■which I fully approve of — the peace of all the earth. The great work of 



22 I'ORT WaSIIINGTOX, XliW YoKK ClTV. 

the Constitutional Convention was the estabhshment of the Supreme 
Court of the United States. The great work of the Hague Congress 
was the estabhshment of the Supreme Court of the world ; and when 
the Historian of the Empire State comes to call the roll of our State's 
great men. he will call first, perhaps, the name of Peter Stuyvesant. who 
planned the City of New York. He will call after that. Schuyler, Ham- 
ilton, Van Buren and Clinton ; he will call Tilden, Cleveland and Roose- 
velt, but he will not stop until he has called the name of Andrew D. 
White, who. more than any other man, is responsible for the Peace Con- 
gress at The Hague, which bids fair to become the supreme federa- 
tion of the world. 

"Well, what of half-past two in the afternoon? Since George 
Washington won the victories of the Revolution, the language which he 
spoke has become the language of the best part of the world. The insti- 
tutions which he fought for have been copied by all the peoples of the 
world. Since the victories of the Revolution, liberty has become the 
rule, and despotism the exception, all over our planet. But that is only 
half-past nine. What of half-past two in the afternoon? 1 will tell you 
what I think of half-past two. I think that the race which maintained its 
liberty in the defiles of the German forests, the race that settled luigland 
and won the Magna Charta, and the Bill of Rights from hostile kings, 
and peopled the United States ; the race that ever since the Battle of 
Blenheim has been forging ahead in the world ; that race, before half- 
past two in the afternoon, will become the dominant race in the world 
and its institutions will govern all the people of this planet." 

After a moment's interval Mr. Logan said : "When Mr. James 
Gordon Bennett was asked his consent to allow a monument to be placed 
on his grounds, he said : 'Put a better monument there, and I will pay for 
it.' When he was asked to name a representative to be present to-day, 
he declined ; he did not care to be known in the matter, but there is a 
man who happens to be here to-day who was a close friend and lawyer 
of the elder Bennett, and still is the lawyer of the younger Bennett, and 
I have great pleasure in introducing him to you to-day, John Town- 
shend, Esq." 

ADDRESS BY JOHN TOWNSIIEND, ESQ. 

"After you have heard that ]\Ir. Bennett has refused to name any- 
one to appear for him to-da}-, it would not become me to say anything 
that has come to me as the representative of Mr. Bennett. You know 
that the relations between counsel and client are sacred, and my lips are 
sealed. Everything that I know about Mr. Bennett and his father, I 
have learned as theii lawyer, for I have had the great forttine to 



Address by John Townsiiend. 23: 

represent the Bennetts, father and son, for over fifty years. Now, what 
I want to say in advance is, that Mr. Bennett ought to have been here 
himself to have had the pleasure of seeing this grand and glorious cele- 
bration, mainly the work of his hand — his generous gift — but if I were- 
at liberty to tell you all that Mr. Bennett does in the way of generosity, 
this little gift of this little monument would be a very little, insignificant 
thing, compared to all that he has done. I might tell }ou of many things^ 
that would show you that this gift, beautiful as it is, is a very small 
thing in comparison with many of the public-spirited acts and many of 
the charities of my client ; and T wish he were liere to-day to see how 
the people of New York appreciate it. 

"Mr. Bennett was a boy playing on these grounds. His father and 
his mother lived here. It has been his residence since manhood, but the 
exigencies of his business, as he believes, call him for a residence abroad. 
He has been criticized, and harshly sometimes, because he has chosen 
to make his residence in a foreign countr\'. Mr. Bennett, as you all know, 
is the owner of the Nczv York Herald. He has raised it from being,. 
when I first knew it, a very small sheet of small circulation, to perhaps 
the greatest newspaper on the globe. I venture to say that it goes into- 
every part of the world — Kamschatka and elsewhere — and I venture to 
say that there is no other paper which is looked upon with so much trust, 
as the Herald. 

"I was once on a visit to Mr. Bennett on Long Island, and we were- 
sitting on the piazza admiring the surrounding view, when two of his- 
sons drove up. It was Sunday morning and he did not ask them, 'How 
are you Jim and Tom?' but "what does the Herald sa\- about such-and- 
such a thing?' 

"I am sure that when the news of this great meeting reaches him 
it will be very gratifying to him. He will feel that though he has chosem 
to take up his residence abroad, there is still a feeling of respect for him 
when they come to see the good work of his hands. Now I don't pretend,. 
after the very eloquent and learned address on the history of the Ameri- 
can Revolution that you have just heard, I don't expect to take up your 
time, as there are gentlemen to follow me who will interest you more thau' 
I can do. I will only say that I am thankful to you for having listened to- 
me so patiently. I am much obliged to you and thank you, and I retire- 
wishing I could have done better." 

By the President: "The man who spoke when the memorial was- 
dedicated down below is a son of the next gentleman to address you. 
The Hon. Randolph Guggenheimer was on that occasion speaking for 
The City of New York. The Hon. Andrew H. Green is the T'^ather 
of Greater New York.' He is the father of most everything that is good 



24 Fort Washington, New York City. 

that I know of. He is to The City of New York what Gladstone was to 
England, her 'Grand Old Man.' " 

ADDRK.SS BY THE HON. AX1)K1-:W II. GREEN. 

"It is difficult on an occasion as suggestive and inspiring as this. 
to select from the multitude of thoughts that crowd for utterance the 
few that can adequately be expressed within the necessarily brief limits 
of time allowed. 

"In the Battle of Fort Washington we have a conspicuous illus- 
tration of the close alliance between the scenic and historic elements 
which form the two-fold character of the society for which I have the 
honor to speak. 

"It is a remarkable and interesting fact, so nearly universal as to 
warrant its interpretation as the expression of an underlying principle, 
that the great conflicts of mankind have been identifiied with conspicuous 
features of natural scenery. It is a well-known fact that rugged scenery 
and stimulating climate make a rugged and virile people ; and a virile 
people make vigorous history. Among such a people, the physical fea- 
tures of the landscape which make impress on their moral characters 
aiTord the salient points from which to exercise their genius. This is 
notably the truth with regard to military engagements, and many of 
the great battles of histor^■ have l)een associated with picturesque topo- 
graphical features. 

"The territor}' over which the Battle of Fort Washington was 
fought 125 years ago, some three or four square miles in extent, com- 
prises the most picturesque portion of The City of New York. It is 
the highest, boldest, and most diversified section of our ancient city, 
and it commands a combined view of land and water, of city and 
coimtry, unsurpassed in the United States. It is the only portion of 
Manhattan Island where the shore-line of our beautiful American Rhine 
has been left in its native picturesqueness, and it is the only portion 
wdiere an}- trace of its pristine beauty remains undesecrated and unrazed 
by the levelling march of so-called 'public improvements.' 

"Thirt}-six years ago, impressed with the commanding beauty of 
this section, I urged upon the authorities the creation here of a great 
park, which shr)iild preserve for future generations those inestimable 
endowments of beauty with which Nature blessed this island ; and since 
then, about forty-one acres have been set aside and reserved as 'Fort 
Washington Park,' on the western side of the Boulevard Lafayette. 
But the half of what should be done has not yet been done. In 1896 
the Legislature passed a bill for the erection of a park on that sightl\' 
eminence where Baxter made his brave fight and lost his life 125 years 



Address by Andrew H. Green. 25:, 

ag-o to-day ; l)nl, although it was passed by the Legislature with great 
unanimity, it failed for the unexplained lack of Governor Morton's sig- 
nature. North of Inwood and west of King-sbridge road there is still 
another ])lacc of sylvan beauty, of which few have any conception,- 
where, as P.ryant says, 

"Upon earth's bosom yet 
After tlie flight of untold centuries 
The freshness of her far beginning lies " — ■ 

a place as yet saved on this island where he "who in the love of Nature,., 
holds conmumion with her visible forms," can go and hear the "various 
language" which she speaks. I most earnestly hope that that lovely 
sDot. still undesecrated by the woodman's axe rjr the engineer's projects,, 
may be preserved for a cit\' i)ark for which it is especiallv adapted. 

"Woodman. >]);ire that tree, 
Touch not a single bough." 

"But these few remaining garden spots must be saved now or it 
will be too late. Within a short time the l)arrier of distance, which hith- 
erto has been Nature's protection, will have been swept away: the irre- 
sistible flood of an already congested population will sweep over those 
few square miles, and their multitudinous dwellings will obliterate the- 
last vestige of that once uK^st varied and attractive landscape. 

"Let us ttu"n now from the scenic to one phase of the historic side 
of this occasion, suggested by the generous and public-spirited donor'''' 
of the memorial which we have dedicated, namely, the debt of the Ameri- 
can Press to the American Revolution, and the debt of the American', 
people to the representative American Press. 

"Our nation owes its greatness principall)- to three great forces — 
the free church, the free school and the free press. The first represents- 
emancipated conscience ; the second, its intelligent illumination ; the- 
third, its free expression. A\'ithout those three factors a democracy 
would be like a sightless giant, staggering in darkness. 

"The American Free Press is the special product of the American- 
Revolution. And let me sa^• that by 'free press' I do not mean a licen- 
tious press, for 'free press' is no more a synonym for 'licentiotisness'" 
than 'freeman' is sNiionomous with "anarchist." 

"At the time of the Battle of k'ort \Vashington there were l)tit 
thirty-seven newspapers m the I'nited States. The colonial press- 
obeyed despotic authorit}' ; it was thrtist into prison if it did not. It 
had no opinions of its own, and its subserviency robbed it of all valtte- 
as a free moral agent. To-da\- there are 20,879 newspapers in this 
country, nearly one-half the number printed in the entire world. There 

=^ James Gordon Bennett. 



26 Fort Washington, New York City. 

is not another such newspaper-reading people on the face of the earth, 
not another great nation with so small a percentage of illiteracy, not 
another rendered so capable by untrammeled conscience, liberal educa- 
tion and an enfranchised press, to exercise and enjoy the blessings of a 
^government by the people for the people.' 

"If we owe our democratic liberties to the American Revolution, 
yet Peace hath her victories no less renowned than War.; and the pen, 
rightly wielded, is as mighty to preserve as the sword to create. It 
would be difficult to overestimate the power of the press as one of the 
chief conservators of the Republic, or our debt to men like James Gor- 
don Dennett, William Cullen Bryant. Charles A. Dana, Horace Greeley, 
Hugh Hastings, Henry J. Raymond, Noah Webster and Thurlow Weed, 
and their distinguished successors, who, though differing in their point 
of view on minor questions, have been inspired by the single and lofty 
desire to preserve and improve the heritage of the fathers. Panoplied 
with a liberal education by our free school system, and wielding the 
imsheathed sword of a free conscience, they have stood like armed 
priests, ministering at and defending the third altar of our American 
hberties. 

"It is extremely appropriate, then, that a representative of the 
American Press should give the beautiful and enduring memorial which 
we have dedicated to-day, and which, while commemorating the sacri- 
fices that have made this spot sacred to all Americans, will also stand as 
a renewed evidence of the public spirit and pride in American citizen- 
ship which a distinguished father and son have illustrated and culti- 
vated, through the instrumentalit\- of an enlightened pul)lic press, for 
three-quarters of a century. 

"In conclusion, I am reminded, b_\- this place of meeting, of the 
•olden days, when the civilization of the world bordered the eastern 
shores of the jNIediterranean, when important cities of Greece or Asia 
Minor contained a hill, or elevated rock, the fortified and templed sum- 
mit of which commanded and could be seen from the city and its envi- 
rons. This acropolis, or 'high town,' was not only a citadel of defence, 
Tjut also a place of self-consecration for the inhabitants. 

"To-day you are assembled on the very highest point of Manhat- 
tan Island, the crowning elevation of the imperial city of the New 
World, upon a mount made sacred by the blood of your forefathers 
and adorned by the most illustrious name in American history. Here, 
ui)on Mount Washington, the acropolis of New York, 'et us consecrate 
ourselves and our city, not as the Athenians to a pagan goddess, but 
rather to those high qualities which she personified, and thus shall our 
queenly city be the home of wisdom, beauty, justice and purity, and the 
higher arts, and be 'the crowning city, the mart of nations.' " 



AnnRF.ss ?.v Azariah H. Sawyer. 27 

The Xew York Juvenile Asylum Band then played a patriotic air, 
during- which the I'nited States troops, which had been standing at the 
side of the tent, withdrew i)reparatory to returning to Governor's 
Island. 

By the Presidext : "We had expected to have had with us to-day 
Major-Ceneral John A. Brooke, U. S. A., as a representative of the 
Army that fought in the Civil and Spanish Wars as bravely as the Army 
of the Revolution fought at Bunker Hill, Fort Washington or York- 
town, and we regret that illness prevents his presence. Those soldiers 
who are just marching away, however, are excellent representatives of 
their distinguished Commander, and they can be depended upon to do 
their dut}' whenever their country has anything for them to do." 

The President then introduced the next speaker, with the follow- 
ing words : "The thing that I boast of most of all is that I once had a 
lawsuit with Judge Sawyer and did not get entirelv beaten. Judge 
Saw}er is the Historian of the Empire State Societv, Sons of the 
American Revolution, and is a gentleman I am very proud to present to 
you to-day." 

ADDRESS BY HON. AZARIAH HALL SAWYER. 

"We are assembled here to-day on the 125th anniversar\- of the 
Battle of Fort Washington to dedicate a suitable memorial to the valor 
of our Revolutionary ancestors, who fought, and many of whom died, 
upon this historic ground. The memorial is an expression of the gen- 
erosity and patriotism of Air. James Gordon Bennett, given at the 
request of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society in 
co-operation with the Empire State Society of the Sons of the American 
Revolution. 

"The Battle of Fort Washington occurred at one of the darkest 
periods of the Revolution. It is impossible for us to-dav to realize 
fully the enormous difficulties which at that time beset General Wash- 
ington on every side. His army was composed of men enlisted for 
short terms of a few months only, or of the militia summoned for some 
specific purpose, as the defense of some point within the colony furnish- 
ing the troops. They were largely raw and inexperienced men, and not 
even properly clothed. Their officers were not onlv inexperienced, but 
many of them were jealous of W^ashington, not disposed to accept or 
be guided l)y his judgment, and covertl}' endeavoring to undermine and 
destroy his power and infiuence. It was no wonder, then, that thev were 
unwilling to yield their own opinions to the clear and unerring judg- 
ment of the commander-in-chief. This was especially the case in respect 
to the disposition that should be made of Fort Washington. 



28 Fort W'asiiixgtox, Xkw Vori^ Crr 



■\'. 



"Weeks before the Isattle Washington saw that it would be impos- 
sible to hold the fort which bore his name, and when, on November 6th, 
a frio-ate and two transports passed up the river with but little injury 
from the guns of the fort, the uselessness of obeying- the commands of 
Congress to 'defend it to the last' was so apparent that on the 8th he 
wrote to General Greene, his most trusted lieutenant, as follows: 'The 
passage of the three vessels up the North River is so plain a proof of the 
inefficiency of all the obstructions thrown into it, that it will fullv jus- 
tify a change in the disposition. If we cannot prevent vessels from 
passing up, and the enemy are possessed of the surrounding country, 
what valual)le purpose can it answer to attempt to hold a post from 
which the expected benefit cannot be had? T am, therefore, inclined to 
think that it will not be prudent to ha;^ard the men and stores at Alount 
Washington : but, as you are on the spot, I leave it to vou to give such 
orders as to evacuating Mount Washington, as you may judge best, 
and so far revoking the order given to Colonel Magaw, to defend it to 
the last. So far as can be collected from the various sources of intelli- 
gence, the enemy must design a penetration into Jersey, and to fall upon 
your post. You will, therefore, immediately have all the stores removed 
which you do not deem necessary for your defence.' 

"These orders would seem to have been sufficiently explicit, but 
General Greene chose to consider them entirely discretionary. General ' 
Putnam, who had built the fort, was absolutely confident of its ability to • 
withstand any atack, and Colonel Magaw, who was in command, 
declared that it could hold out under siege until December. General 
Greene, therefore, instead of evacuating, sent over large reinforcements, 
left unrevoked the order to defend it to the last extremitv, and in a 
direct report to Congress encouraged that body to Ix-lieve that the 
attempt of Howe to possess himself of it would fail. 

"Washington arrived at Fort Lee on the i^th and found, to his - 
great grief, what Greene had done. The afternoon of the 15th, Howe 
summoned Magaw to surrender Fort \Vashington, on pain of the g-ar- 
rison's being put to the sword. Alagaw. in his reply, intiiuated a doubt 
that Howe would execute a threat 'so unworthy of himself and the Brit- 
ish nation ; but give me leave,' he added 'to assure His Excellency that. 
actuated by the most glorious cause that umukiiid ever fought iit. I am- 
deterjuiued to defend this post to the rery last extreuuty: 

"Apprised by the Colonel of his peril. General Greene sent over 
reinforcements, with an exhortation to him to persist in his defense ; and' 
dispatched an express to Washington, who was at Flackensack. where 
the troops which had crossed from J'eekskill were encamped. It was - 
nightfall when W^ashington arrived at b^ort Lee. Greene and Putnam 
were over at the besieged fortress. He threw himself into a boat and> 



Addkiiss i;v Azariau H. Sawyer. 29 

!had parti}- crossed the river, when he met those generals retinniing. 
They informed him of the garrison's having been reinforced, and assured 
him iliat it was in high s])irits and capable of making a good defense. 
It was with ditificulty, however, they could i)revail on Iiim to return 
witli them to the Jerse\- shore. 

"Early next morning IMagaw made his dispositions for the expected 
attack. The grounds which he was charged to defend reached from 
the hills above Tubl)y Hook to a zig-zag line a little south of the present 
Trinity cemetery, a distance north and south of two and a half miles, 
a circuit of six or seven. His forces, with the recent addition, amounted 
to nearly 3.000 men, the fort not containing above a third of that 
•number. 

"Colonel Lambert Cadwalader, with 800 Pennsylvanians, was 
posted at the outer lines, about two and a half miles south of the fort — 
the side menaced by Lord I'ercy with 1,600 men. Colonel Rawlino-s. 
of Maryland, with a body of troops, many of them riflemen, was sta- 
:tioned l)y a three-gun battery on a rocky, precipitous hill north of the 
fort and between it and Spu} ten Uuyvil creek. Colonel Baxter, of 
'Bucks c(junt\-. rennsylvania, with his regiment of militia, was posted 
-east of the fort, on rongh, wooded heights bordering the Harlem river, 
to watch the motions of the enemy, who had thrown np redoubts on 
high and commanding ground, on the opposite side of the river, appar- 
■ently to cover the crossing and landing of troops. 

"Sir William Howe had planned four simultaneous attacks: One 
•on the north, l)y Knyphausen, who was encamped on the York side of 
Kings Bridge, within cannonshot of Fort Washington, but separated 
from it l)y high and rough hills covered with almost impenetrable 
woods. He was to advance in two columns, formed of detachments 
made fn^m the Hessians of his corjis, the brigade of Rahl. and the regi- 
ment of W'aldeckers. The second attack was to be by two battalions 
■of light infantry and two battalions of guards, under Brigadier-General 
Alathew, who was tt) cross Harlem river in flat boats, under cover of 
the redoubts on the heights, and to land on the right of the fort. This 
attack was to be supported by the First and Second Grenadiers and a 
regiment of light infantry under command of Lord Cornwallis. The 
third attack, intended as a feint, to distract the attention of the Ameri- 
cans, was to be b\- Colonel Stirling, with the Forty-second regiment, 
who was to drop down Harlem river in bateaux, to the left of the 
American lines, facing New York. The fourth attack was to be on the 
south, by Lord Percy, with the English and Hessian troops under his 
command, on the right flank of the American entrenchments. 

"About noon a heavy cannonading thundering along the rocky 
Jiills, and sharp volleys of musketry, proclaimed that the action was 



30 Fort Washington, New York City. 

commenced. Knyphausen's division, consisting of nearly 4,500 men, 
was pushing on from the north in two columns, as had been arranged. 
The right was led by Colonel Rahl ; the left by himself. Rahl essayed 
to mount a steep, broken height called Cock Hill, which rises from 
Spuyten Duyvil creek and was covered with woods. Knyphausen under- 
took a hill rising from the Kings Bridge road, but soon found himself 
entangled in a wooded defile, difficult to penetrate, and where his 
Hessians were exposed to the fire of the three-gun battery and Rawlings' 
Riflemen. 

"While this was going on at the north of the fort, General Mathew, 
with his light infantry and guards, crossed Harlem river in the flat l)qats, 
under cover of a heavy fire from the redoubts. 

"He made good his landing, after being severely handled by Baxter 
and his men from behind rocks and trees and the breastworks thrown 
up on the steep river bank. A short contest ensued. Baxter, while 
bravely encouraging his men, was killed by a British officer. His troops, 
overpowered by numbers, retreated to the fort. General Mathew now 
pushed on with his guards and light infantry to cut off Cadwalader. 
That officer had gallantly defended the lines against the attack of Lord 
Percy from the south, who had advanced from what is now One hun- 
dred and Twenty-fifth street, until informed that Colonel Stirling was^ 
dropping down Harlem river in bateaux. to flank the line and take him 
in the rear. He sent off a detachment to oppose his landing. They did 
it manfully. About ninety of Stirling's men were killed or wounded in 
their boats; but he persevered, landed and forced his way up a steep 
height, which was well defended, gained the summit, forced a redoubt 
and took nearly two hundred prisoners. Thus doubly assailed, Cad- 
walader was obliged to retreat to the fort. He was closely pursued by 
Percy, with the English troops and Hessians, but turned repeatedly 
on his pursuers. Thus he fought his way to the fort, with a loss of sev- 
eral killed and more taken prisoners, but marking his track by the 
number of Hessians slain. 

"The defense on the north side of the fort was equally obstinate 
and unsuccessful. Rawlings, with his Maryland Riflemen and the aid 
of the three-gun battery, however, for some time kept the left column 
of Hessians and Waldeckers, under Knyphausen, at bay. At length, 
Colonel Rahl, with the right column of the division, having forced his 
way directly up the north side of the steep hill at Spuyten Duyvil creek, 
came upon Rawlings' men, whose rifles, from frequent discharges, had 
become foul and almost useless, drove them from their strong post and 
followed them until within one hundred yards of the fort, where he was 
joined by Knyphausen, who had slowly made his way through the dense 



Adoress by Azariah H. Sawyer. 31 

forest and over felled trees. Here they took post behind a large stone 
house and sent in a flag with a second summons to surrender. 

"Washington, surrounded by several of his officers, had been an 
anxious spectator of the battle from the opposite side of the Hudson. 
Much of it was hidden from him by intervening hills and forest, but the 
roar of cannonry from the valley of Harlem river, the sharp and 
incessant report of rifles and the smoke rising above the tree-tops, told 
him of the spirit with which the assault was received at various points 
and gave him. for a time, a hope that the defense might be successful. 
The action about the lines to the south lay open to him and could be 
distinctly seen throvigh a telescope, and nothing encouraged him more 
than the gallant style in which Cadwalader, with an inferior force, 
maintained his position. When he saw him, however, assailed in flank, 
the line broken and his troops overpowered by numbers, retreating to the 
fort, he gave up the game as lost. The worst sight of all was to behold 
his men cut down and bayoneted by the Hessians while begging quarter. 
It is said so completely to have overcome him that he wept with the 
tenderness of a child. 

"Seeing the flag go into the fort from Knyphausen's division and 
surmising it to be a summons to surrender, he wrote a note to Magaw 
telling him that if he could hold out until evening and the place could 
not be maintained, he would endeavor to bring off the garrison in the 
night. Captain Gooch, of Boston, a brave and daring man, offered to be 
the bearer of the note. He ran down to the river, jumped into a small 
boat, pushed over the river, landed under the bank, ran up to the fort and 
delivered the message, came out, ran and jumped over the broken 
ground, dodging the Hessians, some of whom struck at him with their 
pieces, and others attempted to thrust him with their bayonets, escaped 
through them, got to his boat and returned to Fort Lee. 

"Washington's message arrived too late. The fort was so crowded 
by the garrison and the troops which had retreated into it that it was 
difficult to move about. The enemy, too, were in possession of the little 
redoubts around and could have poured in showers of shells and rico- 
chet balls that would have made dreadful slaughter. It was no longer 
possible for Magaw to get his troops to man the lines. He was com- 
pelled, therefore, to yield himself and his garrison prisoners of war, the 
only terms granted them being that the men could retain their baggage 
and the officers their swords. 

"The killed and wounded of the German troops were more than 
350; those of the whole Royal Army, more than 500. The Americans 
lost in the field not above 150, but they gave up valuable artillery and 
some of their best arms, and the captives exceeded 2,600, of whom one- 
half were well-trained soldiers. 



•32 Fort Wasiiixgtox, Xkw York Citv. 

"Tlie capture of Fort Washington was tlie most serious disaster 
that liad befallen our cause, but it carried with it no dishonor. We see 
-clearly, to-day, the wisdom of Washington's policy of prudence, and 
regret that his advice was not followed and the loss of so many lives 
and the capture of so many l)rave men, so sadly needed then, avoided. 
But, still, it is satisfaction to remember that this important post was 
not abandoned without a contest, and that we fought a brave, if unsuc- 
cesr.tLil, battle. 

"Gentlemen, it is the spirit of our nation to fight. We may not 
always win, but we will not surrender without a struggle. We have 
been fighting ever since the Battle of Fort \^^ashington, and so long as 
this nation exists, so long will we continue to fight. I do not mean that 
disputes between nations are always to be settled by an armed conflict. 
[ trust that the day is rapidly approaching when international wars will 
cease, and arbitration will be the court of last resort. But I do mean 
that the old fighting spirit of our Anglo-Saxon race must never die — 
the brave spirit which will make every sacrifice to win the victory for 
tb.e rigiiteous cause. 

"There are other victories than those of the battlefield. Thousands 
of us are ready at our country's call to bind on our swords and go forth 
'to glory and the grave;' but are we willing to stand for hours in the 
vain and cold, before a voting booth, to fire our one shot in the fight for 
honest and pure government? Are we willing to sacrifice wealth and 
honor in an assured profession, that we may fight the good fight upon 
the floor- of our National or State Legislatures ? Are we willing to do 
our share in the grand fight for the redemption and purification of our 
municipal governments? Are we willing to leave our homes, our 
friends, all that makes life dear to us, and go out to our distant posses- 
sions, there to labor patiently, honestly, and with all our might, in the 
grand fight against ignorance and disease, knowing that, added to 
unjust criticism at home, we will 

"Reap the old reward, 
The blame of those we better, 
The hate of those we guard. 
The cry of hosts we humor 
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light: — 
Why brought ye us from bondage. 
Our loved Egyptian night?" 

"There never was a time, gentlemen, when our country needed the 
fighting qualities of her sons more than to-day. Ever since the Battle 
of I'^ort Washington, ottr democratic government has been on trial before 



Address by Azariah H. Sawyer. 33 

the world. At no period in our history has our country occupied the 
exalted place that it does to-day. For years we have been the granary 
of the world; now we are contesting successfully with England, Ger- 
many and France for the pre-eminence in manufacturing products. We 
aspire to be, if we have not already become, the financial centre of the 
world. We cannot maintain this proud pre-eminence in the eyes of the 
world unless we are ready and willing to fight for it ; not as our fore- 
fathers fought on this historic ground one hundred and twenty-five 
years ago, but fight against ignorance, vice and dishonesty. 

"For years we have been taunted with the fact — for it is a fact — 
that our most intelligent and cultivated citizens were unwilling to take 
part in a struggle for good government, but seemed to be quite ready, 
so long as they were not personally interfered with, to be governed by 
the worst elements of society — until the government of some of our cities 
has become a by-word and a hissing, not only through our own land 
but through the civilized world. This state of things cannot long con- 
tinue without the most serious consequences. Our municipal govern- 
ments lie at the very source of our whole governmental system. If the 
source is contaminated it must in time corrupt the whole system. 

"It was well said by ex-President Cleveland, in his address at 
Pittsburg the other day, that 'if the American people are to preserve in 
their greatest usefulness the advantages of their free institutions, every 
individual, whatever may be his station or situation, owes some sort of 
duty and obligation in support of good citizenship.' 

"I believe that the people of this great city have begun to realize 
their duty in this regard. The events of the last few days have demon- 
strated their power and at the same time established their responsibility. 

"If the people of this land are willing to take up the burdens that 
belong to and are inseparable from good citizenship, then, indeed, our 
fathers who fought at Fort Washington did not fight in vain, and 
'government of the people, by the people and for the people, shall not 
perish from the earth.' " 



34 Fort Washington, New York City. 

The New York Juvenile Asylum Band then plaved another patri- 
otic air, after which the President introduced Dr. P. Brynbero- Porter 
who read the following poem : *^ 

rOEM BY DR. p. BRYNBERG PORTER. 

FORT WASHINGTON, 1776-1901. 

When from the ramparts on these storied heights 
The gallant patriots' tattered flag was torn, 
The darkest hour of all the war had come- 
Yet in the night that fell new hope was born. 

This stalwart fortress with its worship'd name 

Could not, alas, base treachery withstand. 

Sad was the sacrifice of noble lives, 

And brave our troops that felt the conqueror's hand. 

But balm there is in tears for those whose graves 
Hallow this spot ; for those who in their pain 
Cried out for death in ghastly prison ships— 
Their sacrifice, undying, was not vain. 

Trenton and Princeton followed this reverse. 
The nation woke to find itself thrice blessed 
With a great leader in its midst, on whom 
Its hopes and aspirations well might rest. 

The spirit of the people was revived, 
They girded up their loins for long strife, 
And the resistless force of Freedom's cause 
Now stirred into a new and stronger life. 

Enriched with boundless blessings won by those 
Who fought so well in deathless days of yore, 
Well may memorials to their valor here 
Be set by us on Hudson's sacred shore. 

And as the passer-by shall pause, perchance, 
To meditate on this historic site, 
From out the memories of that darkest hour 
Will shine "At eventide it shall be light." 



Address by Hiram R. Steele. 35 

By THE President: "Ju(l,e;e Steele is one whose ancestor com- 
manded a regiment at the Battle of Long Island, and was with Wash- 
ington when he crossed the Delaware. Judge Steele went into the Civil 
War as a private and came out with a high rank, and merited all the 
honors he had won during the war." 

address by HON. HIRAM ROSWELL STEELE. 

"It is certainly a pleasure to find so large a gathering of patriotic 
men and women who are ready to stop for a moment in these busy times 
to give attention to events connected with the early days of the Repub- 
lic ; to refresh our knowledge of local history, and join in measures to 
preserve the landmarks which tell the story of the valor shown and the 
sacrifices made by our ancestors, and which gave to us the rich inheri- 
tance we enjoy to-day. 

"We are making history so rapidly these days ; there is so much of 
importance in current events to absorb our attention, that we are in 
danger of forgetting the glorious past. The Civil War is fresh in the 
minds of those of us who participated in that struggle ; but I am told 
that it is not uncommon to meet graduates of our universities of a later 
generation who are quite ignorant of the history of that most important 
struggle of modern times. I heard the other day of a young college 
graduate, who, no doubt, was well informed as to ancient history as 
sung by Virgil and Homer, who asked General Sickles where he lost 
his leg. The veteran commander of the old Third Corps could hardly 
conceal his disgust as he said : 'Young man, don't you know the history 
of your country?' The youth replied : T did know where you lost your 
leg, but I have forgotten. Won't you please tell me?' To which the 
General replied: T lost my leg at Bunker Hill, young man, and don't 
you forget it again.' 

"From the splendid addresses we have heard here to-day, and the 
literature distributed in connection with this occasion, we ought to be 
familiar with the history of Fort Washington. We know that it was a 
five-sided earthwork, without casements or outpost, mounting 34 can- 
non on the crest of these heights where we now stand, 238 feet above 
the Hudson river; that it was built in the summer of 1776 under the 
supervision of General Greene for the purpose of holding the Hudson 
river; that it was planned and laid out by Alexander Hamilton, and 
that Washington was so much pleased with the work that he sent for 
Hamilton and placed him on his stafif. We know that it was captured by 
the British 125 years ago to-day while garrisoned by Pennsylvania mili- 
tia under command of Colonel Magaw ; that the honors of the day were 
given to the Hessians and Highlanders, and that Colonel Rahl, who led 



36 Fort Washington, New York City. 

the Hessians in the final assault, was distinguished in general orders for 
his gallant conduct on that occasion ; that the name of the fort was then 
changed to 'Fort Knyphausen,' in honor of Lieutenant-General Knyp- 
hausen, the Hessian Commander ; and it would be well to remember 
also, in passing, that these same Hessians, including the Knyphausen 
regiment, were captured by Washington in the following month at 
Trenton on December 26, and that Colonel Rahl was seriously wounded 
in that engagement. 

"The weeks immediately preceding the capture of this fort were 
perhaps the most gloomy and discouraging in all of Washington's expe- 
rience. With the occupation of lower New York by Howe's army, and 
after the British war ships had forced the passage of the Hudson and 
East rivers, Washington saw that his position on Harlem Heights was 
untenable, and he advised the immediate evacuation of Fort Wash- 
ington. But Congress had not then learned to regard Washington as 
it did a few months later. His appeals and earnest recommendations 
were received with scant respect, and generally referred to a committee 
or promptly disregarded. The advice of others controlled, and Congress 
ordered that Fort Washington be held at all hazards. About this time, 
Washington is reported to have said privately : 'Such is my situation 
that if I were to wish the bitterest curse to an enemy on this side of the 
grave, I should put him in my place, with my feelings.' 

"Washington was confronted by the strongest army which had 
ever left the shores of Great Britain up to that time, while his own force 
consisted of untrained farmers, poorly supplied, and serving practically 
without pay. Then it must be remembered that the colonists at this time 
were not at all united in their revolt against the home government. 
It is evident that a very large percentage of the people of New York 
City remained loyal to the English Government, from the fact that at 
the close of the war and before the evacuation by the British Army, 
14,000 loyalists were sent from New York City to Shelbourne, Nova 
Scotia, while many others returned to England. It was not easy for the 
peaceful farmer to leave his family and take up arms against the gov- 
■ernment which he had been taught to love and respect ; but it was a part 
'of the divine plan that a free people should be established on this con- 
tinent, and Providence furnished the means to accomplish the result. 

"The two things which undoubtedly contributed most to unite the 
colonists and arouse them to action were the cruel outrages of the 
Indians operating with Burgoyne's Army, and the marauding of the 
Hessian hirelings. The murder of Jane MacCrea had a wonderful effect 
upon the farmers of western New York and the New England States. 
You remember the story. This beautiful girl, twenty years of age, 
betrothed to a loyalist in the British Army, was sent on the 27th of June, 



Address by Hiram R. Steele. 37 

1777, from Fort Edward to the British camp at Sandy Hill, under the 
escort of two Indians attached to Burgoyne's Army. On the way, the 
Indians quarreled as to the division of the reward they were to receive, 
and settled the dispute by driving their tomahawks into the brain of this 
girl ; and the British commander, fearful of displeasing his Indian allies, 
pardoned the assassins without any punishment whatever. The news 
of this horrible afifair, together with the constant murder and scalp- 
ing of defenceless women and children by Indians operating tmder the 
British flag, settled the course of the wavering people of western New 
York and New England, and did more to rouse them to immediate 
action than all the patriotic appeals of the previous year. Volunteers, 
by forced marches through the wilderness, joined General Gates in such 
numbers as to compel the surrender of Burgoyne's Army. 

"In the meantime, the Hessians, operating in New Jersey, Penn- 
sylvania, Delaware and Maryland, robbing and plundering indiscrimi- 
nately. Rebels and Tories alike, united and roused the patriots of these 
states to determined action ; while the British commanders, when com- 
plaints were brought to their notice, excused themselves by saying that 
the Hessians were hired with the understanding that they would have 
an opportunity to enrich themselves by plundering the people, and that 
it would not be fair to deprive them of this privilege. 

"I firmly believe that in all these events, as well as those of more 
recent times, the American people have been the unconscious instrument 
of a divine power in working out a great plan for the uplifting of 
humanity, far beyond anything we can comprehend. 

"At the close of the Revolutionary War, the Alleghanies were our 
western boundaries, and our statesmen and government of that day 
thought it was all the territory we required. It is easy to see now that 
our statesmen of that day were wrong, and that every expansion of our 
territory has benefited mankind and tended to the building up of a great 
and useful nation. If it had been proposed in the McKinley campaign 
of 1896, that within four years we should take a controlling position 
in the Pacific Ocean, establishing our flag in the Hawaiias and Philip- 
pines, exercising control over more than twelve millions of people, the 
idea would have been regarded too preposterous for a moment's con- 
sideration. Nothing could have been further from President McKin- 
ley 's wish or intention. Still it has all come about in the most natural 
way — in fact, forced upon us by circumstances beyond our control ; and 
when we consider the position, resources and intelligence of the Ameri- 
can people, that the Pacific Ocean occupies about the same relative posi- 
tion to the world's civilization of to-day that the Mediterranean did in 
the middle ages, it is impossible to imagine how far the power and influ- 
ence of this Republic may extend during the present century. 



38 Fort Washington, New York City. 

"We are to be congratulated upon your being with us so long 
to-day, and I shall not talk any longer. I want to express our gratitude, 
before I take my seat, to Mr. James Gordon Bennett for his generous 
gift. All honor, I say. to him and to the Empire State Society, Sons 
of the American Revolution, and to the American Scenic and Historic 
Preservation Society who have joined us in commemorating the Battle 
of Fort Washington." 

Judge Steele's address concluded the programme as arranged. The 
President then introduced Prof. Fitzgerald Tisdall. with the following 
words : 

"The most gallant figure of the Revolution, to mv mind, is Colonel 
Magaw ; and I say that, well remembering Putnam and Warren at 
Bunker Hill, and Anthony Wayne at Stony Point, and Alexander Ham- 
ilton at Yorktown. But Colonel Magaw held the fort here against 
overwhelming odds and against a sure defeat. Colonel Magaw, to my 
mind, stands out as the sublime, personal hero of the Revolution. We 
have with us to-day. Professor Tisdall, a lineal descendant of the man 
who commanded this fort during the Battle of Fort Washington. He 
has made his own way in the world without any help from his ancestors, 
and is now Professor of Greek in the College of The City of New York." 

REMARKS BY PROF. FITZGERALD TISDALL. 

"It gave me great pleasure to accept the invitation of President 
Logan and the Empire State Society, Sons of the American Revolution, 
to be present to-day at these services, in which I did not expect to take 
part. But it may be interesting to the women present to know that 
although my name is different. I am a lineal descendant of Colonel 
Magaw. and it is proper that you should know something about him. 
He went from Carlisle. Penna.. to the siege of Boston, and then, after 
the British left Boston, he went to Long Island and fought in the battle 
there, and then following in the retreat of Washington's forces, he was 
left as Senior Colonel in command of Fort Washington. He was taken 
prisoner, and the family records are, as I have heard from my grand- 
mother who was his grand-daughter, he was confined in the prison ship 
'Jersey.' and owing to the provisions and ill treatment there, his consti- 
tution was very seriously undermined." 

He concluded his speech by referring to Colonel Magaw's marriage 
while in captivity at Flatbush, Long Island, and to his death in 1790, 
which was indirectly caused by his treatment while on the British 
prison ships, and which took place in the prime of life, when years of 
usefulness to his countrv seemed to be in store for him. 



Remarks by E. H. Hall and C. R. Lamb. 39 

The President then introduced Compatriot Edward Hagaman Hall 
as the person who had practically rediscovered the almost forgotten site 
of Fort Washington, who had first proposed the monumenting of the 
spot in 1897, and whose indefatigable efforts had finally resulted in 
evoking Mr. Bennett's generosity and securing the erection of the 
memorial. 

REMARKS BY MR. EDWARD HAGAMAN HALL. 

"I did not expect to be called upon for any remarks here to-day. 
Mr. Logan, in dragging me up before you in this manner, has exposed 
himself to the danger of the fisherman who once lived in the East. This 
fisherman used to haul up pretty good fish on some occasions — and some 
pretty poor fish on others. One day, after removing all the fish from 
his net, he found in the bottom of it a strange-looking vessel. Not know- 
ing what it contained, and overcome by curiosity, he pulled up the ves- 
sel and unsealed it, whereupon, to his amazement and horror, forth 
came a great and expansive vapor, which gathered in an overshadowing 
cloud in the shape of a genie, shutting out the light that had been shining 
and converting the day into night. When he saw what he had done 
he tried to induce the genie to go back into the vessel, but without suc- 
cess, and he repented him of his rash act for many years. 

"I am so full of the subject of Fort Washington that if I fairly 
started once upon it, you would regret that Mr. Logan ever let me loose, 
but I shall show my friendship for him and my consideration for you 
by saving you from the penalty of his indiscretion. 

"The Battlefield of Fort Washington has already been hallowed 
by the sacrifices of our forefathers, and no words that we can utter here 
to-day can render it more sacred. Let us be grateful that through the 
generosity of our patriotic fellow citizen, Mr. James Gordon Bennett, 
and aided by the genius of our talented Compatriot, Mr. Charles Rol- 
linson Lamb, we have been enabled to set upon this consecrated spot 
a beautiful memorial to tell its inspiring story to generations that are 
to come." 

Tlie President then introduced Mr. Charles Rollinson Lamb, not 
only as the designer of the Fort Washington monument, but also as a 
representative of the highest art culture in the city, and the designer of 
the superb Triumphal Arch erected in 1899 to commemorate Dewey's 
victory at Manila and other triumphs of the American Navy. 



40 Fort Washington, New York City. 

remarks by mr. charles rollinson lamb. 

"The unexpected is what always happens. The only reason I am 
going to say anything is because it has not been given the publicity that 
it should have received on such a day as this, and that is the indebtedness 
that each member of our Society is under to our Secretary, Mr. Hall. 
Without his careful research, without his persistent way, his constant 
endeavor, Fort Washington would have remained unmarked, possibly 
for years to come. Fortunately for him, fortunately for you, he was 
backed up by that royal, good fellow (whom down in the National Arts 
Club we call an artist, while here he pretends to be a lawyer), that 
prince of good fellows, President Logan. 

"My part is simple. I have only to put together a few materials 
under instructions as to where they are to go, and what is wanted. 
What they commemorate is inscribed on the face of your memorial. One 
fact that I hope will be taken away by you all, and especially by the 
younger people whom I am glad to see with us to-day, is that we, too, 
are making history, and it is important that we remember that in making 
history, we should make it so that in the years to come it will be worthy 
of being inscribed on tablets of marble, stone or granite, and which can 
truthfully say of to-day what we say of our forefathers, that we are 
proud to be descendants of such a race of men." 

After a few remarks appropriate to the day by Mrs. Donald 
McLean, the audience dispersed. 



AND ITS Related Fortifications. 41 



PART III. 

FORT WASHINGTON AND ITS RELATED 
FORTIFICATIONS.* 

By Edward Hagaman Hall. 

THE object of this brief sketch is to indicate with exactness the site 
of Fort Washington, on Manhattan Island, and to rescue from 
threatened oblivion the location of the spot made memorable by 
the gallant defense of the Americans, November 16, 1776. The growth 
of the city, the march of improvements, and action of the elements have 
so obliterated the historic landmarks of the island, that few vestiges 
remain to remind the present generation of the Revolutionary period. 
These natural influences have been supplemented in their operation upon 
the site of Fort Washington by the indefiniteness with which map-makers 
have applied their designations to the charts of the island, and popular 
opinion has already entered the penumbra of uncertainty which fore- 
shadows complete loss of identity. Upon a "Map of the Upper Part of 
the Island of Manhattan, above Eighty-sixth street, arranged to illustrate 
the Batle of Harlem Heights," in Shannon's Manual for 1868, the name 
F-o-r-t W-a-s-h-i-n-g-t-o-n is spread over a territory nearly two miles 
in extent, north of i6oth street. On Rand & McNally's "Complete Map 
of New York and Vicinity," 1895, the Fort is not designated; but Jef- 
frey's Hook, projecting into the Hudson river in a line with what would 
be 176th street if it were opened, bears the additional appellation of 
"Fort Washington Point." This is a commonly used name for Jeffrey's 
Hook, and the consequent tendency to locate the Fort there is so strong 
that the Point has become a very general synonym for the Fort. On the 
maps printed for the City Directory the name "Fort Washington" occu- 
pies the territory between the Fort Washington Ridge road (latterly 
called Fort Washington avenue) and the Hudson river in a line with 
178th street if projected. Errors in Lossing's "Pictorial Field Book 
of the Revolution," which locate the Hamilton Grange at 151st street 
instead of I42d, and Washington's Headquarters (the Jumel Mansion) 
at 169th street instead of i6oth; and in Mrs. Lamb's "History of New 
York," which makes Harlem Heights and Mount Washington synony- 
mous and locate the Battle of Harlem Heights in the vicinity of Trinity 

* Reprinted from "the brochure of the Empire State Society Sons of American Revolutionlentitled 
"Fort Washington," published in 1898. 



42 Fort Washington, New York City. 

Cemetery instead of Morningside Heights, compel us to seek outside 
evidence to confirm the location of Fort Washington. Fortunately there 
remain sufficiently distinct traces of the Fort to fix its site with exact- 
ness. 

An observer stationed at the intersection of Eleventh avenue and 
183d street, with a compass corrected for magnetic deviation, will find 
that the avenue runs about 29 degrees east of north,* and the street 61 
degrees west of northf — an angle of 90 degrees. If he will proceed to 
the point where the western curb-line of Fort Washington avenue 
would be intersected by the line of the southern sidewalk of 183d street 
if projected, and walk thence 356 feet in the direction of the continu- 
ance of the line, he will stand on what remains of the NW bastion of 
the Fort. This bastion is rapidly wearing away under the action of the 
weather, and in former years, after a rainstorm, it was not unusual to 
see cannon-balls and other relics roll out of the bank. Looking a few 
degrees west of south from the NW bastion, one may see, 162 feet dis- 
tant, the extremity of the SW bastion, wholly covered with verdure 
and in a much better state of preservation. It commands a superb view 
of the Hudson and the Palisades on the Jersey shore. These two bas- 
tions are all that remains of Fort Washington, but they are enough to 
enable us to locate the obliterated portions by the means of existing dia- 
grams. Plotting the Fort, according to the plans obtainable, it is found 
that James Gordon Bennett's house lies close to the N bastion ; that an 
unoccupied house stands upon the site of the SE bastion, and that the 
old Four-in-Hand Club House, built some thirty years ago, stands 
between the NW and SW bastions, where additional room has been 
made for it by blasting. In grading the western sidewalk of Fort Wash- 
ington avenue, the ground of the NE bastion must have been partially 
cut away, and possibly the foot of the SE bastion. 

One hundred and fifty feet north of the intersection of the western 
curb-line of Fort Washington avenue with the southern line of 183d 
street projected is the crest of Fort Washington avenue roadway and 
the entrance to the driveway into the premises of Mr. Bennett. An 
arch spanning the aveiuie upon this eminence would command a view 
of all the northern portion of Manhattan Island and a sweeping pro- 
pect beyond the Harlem river into Westchester county and Connecticut. 
A few rods north of the Fort is the highest point on Manhattan Island, 
the elevation being 271.4 feet. The extent of the view may be inferred 
from the fact that it was here that Hassler, in his famous triginometrical 
coast survey, fixed one of his stations, the next being in the State of 
Connecticut. To the eastward and westward of Fort Washington the 

* 28°, 50', so", t 61°, 9', 30". 



AND ITS Related Fortifications. 43 

ground declines sharply, being steeper on the west than on the east. To 
the southward the grade falls away more gradually. To the northward 
the ridge maintains a high elevation for about six-tenths of a mile when 
at the site of Fort Tryon it falls away precipitately. 

Although Fort Washington possesed a natural advantage of eleva- 
tion, it was not constructively a strong military work. It is described 
as a "pentagonal, bastioned earthwork, without a keep, having a feeble 
profile and scarcely any ditch. In its vicinity were batteries, redoubts 
and intrenched lines." The diagram of the Fort in Lossing's "Pictorial 
Field Book of the Revolution" also represents the Fort surrounded by 
an abattis. Carrington, in his "Battles of the American Revolution," 
says : "Fort Washington was a hastily built open earthwork and, accord- 
ing to Graydon, without a ditch of any consequence, and with no exte- 
rior defenses that could entitle it to the name of a fortress in any degree 
capable of sustaining a siege. There was no well within the Fort proper, 
so that water was procurable only from the Hudson river nearly 300 
feet below." The river was really about 1,000 feet distant. 

Major Alexander Graydon, whose battalion served under Cad- 
walader and who was captured at Fort Washington, says in his 
"Memoirs" : "There were no barracks, or casemates, or fuel, or water 
within the body of the place. It was an open earthen construction, with 
ground at a short distance on the back of it equally high, if not higher ; 
without a ditch of any consequence, if there was a ditch at all ; no out- 
works but an incipient one on the north not deserving the appellation, 
or any of those exterior multiplied obstacles and defenses that, so far as 
I can judge, could entitle it to the name of fortress in any degree capable 
of sustaining a siege, it required no parallels to approach it ; the citadel 
was at once within reach of assailants. In addition to this, there were 
no magazines of any kind prepared, and it is stated in the Annual Reg- 
ister, which carried on the history of the war, that, with its other defi- 
ciencies, there was not found in it ammunition adequate for the shortest 
defense." 

It is perhaps needless to add that Major Graydon was opposed to 
the policy of attemping to retain Fort Washington. 

Marshall's "Life of Washington" says: "Fort Washington is on 
a very high piece of rocky ground near the North river, very difficult of 
ascent, especially towards the north or Kingsbridge. The Fort was 
capable of containing about 1,000 men, but the lines and outworks, 
which were chiefly on the southern side toward New York, were drawn 
quite across the Island. The ground was naturally very strong, the 
approaches difficult, and the fortifications, although not sufficient to 
resist heavy artillery, were believed to be in a condition which would pre- 
vent any attempt to carry them by storm. Had the Fort toward the 



44 Fort Washington, New York City 

East river been defended with as much gallantry as the hill on the north, 
the enemy would probably have been repulsed." 

General Howe, considering the relation of the Fort to Fort Lee on 
the Jersey shore, and noting that it commanded the North river while 
it barred communication with New York by land, regarded the post so 
important that in his opinion its possession was absolutely necessary. 

The builders of Fort Washington were the Pennsylvania troops 
"who arrived in New York during June, 1776. About the middle of that 
month Washington, on horseback, reconnoitred the heights adjacent 
to King's Bridge, and determined where works were to be laid out. 
Irving's "Life of Washington" says : "Breastworks were to be thrown 
up for the defense of the bridge, and an advanced work (subsequently 
called Fort Independence) was to be built beyond it on a hill command- 
ing Spuyten Duyvil creek. ... A strong work, intended as a kind of 
■citadel, was to crown a rocky height between two and three miles south 
of the bridge commanding the channel of the Hudson ; and below it were 
to be redoubts on the bank of the river at Jeffrey's Point. In honor of 
the General, the citadel received the name of Fort Washington." The 
work of construction was carried on under the immediate and technical 
direction of Colonel Rufus Putnam, Chief Engineer of the Army. The 
armament of the Fort is variously stated, possibly because different 
authors refer to different periods of the Fort's history or include more 
or less outworks. General Wilson's "Memorial History of New York" 
gives the Fort 18 guns ; Lossing credits it with "about 20 heavy cannons 
. . . besides several smaller pieces and mortars ;" while a letter dated 
Fort Washington, August 3, 1776, says : The "Fort mounts thirty-two 
pieces of heavy cannon." (Irving's "Life of Washington.") The 
calibre of the ordnance may be judged from the description of the 
pieces captured at the Fort and its outworks November i6th, which 
included 4 thirty-two-pounders, 2 eighteen-pounders, 7 twelve-pounders, 
5 nine-pounders, 15 six-pounders, 8 three-pounders, 2 five and a half 
inch howitzers, besides the cannon taken at King's Bridge. (American 
Archives, sth Series. Vol. III.) 

The abattis of Fort Washington enclosed a space of three or four 
acres, while its ravelins protected an area of three times that extent. 
After its capture it was named Fort Knyphausen by the British, but upon 
the repossession of the Island by the Americans seven years later, unlike 
Fort Tryon and Fort George, its American title was resumed. 

Fort Washington was the citadel of an extensive series of fortifi- 
cations lying north of the battlefield of Harlem Heights, some of which 
were merely redoubts or breastworks, and others sufficiently important 
to be dignified with the name of Forts. In order that their relation to 



ANO ITS ReLATRD FORTIFICATIONS. 45 

Fort Washinj^ton and the battle hereafter to be described may be under- 
stood, they may briefly be mentioned, beginning on the south : 

During the interval between the Battle of Long Island, August 27, 
T776, and the Battle of Harlem Heights, September 16, 1776, Washing- 
ton fixed upon the heights north of the Hollow Way (Manhattan street) 
as the best position to take, and three lines of defenses were projected 
across the Island. 

The first and most southerly extended across the high ground 
between 145th and 147th streets. It included three small redoubts upon 
as many eminences and was protected by abattis. The western redoubt 
has been located in the accompanying map at the intersection of 145th 
street and Eleventh avenue by means of a topographical map made some 
thirty years ago, which indicates the remains of a redoubt at that spot, 
although there is higher ground at 147th street. The construction of 
this line was undertaken on September 16, 1776, during the Battle of 
Harlem. Colonel Silliman, writing on September 17th, of the previous 
day, says : "Our brigades, which form a line across the Island where I 
am, were immediately ordered under arms, but as the enemy did not 
immediately advance, we grounded our arms and took spades and shov- 
els and went to work, and before night had thrown up lines across the 
Island. There was nothing before but three little redoubts in about a 
mile, and we are at work this day in strengthening them." 

The second line of intrenchments zig-zagged across the Island 
betw-een the lines of the present 153d and 155th streets, now largely 
occupied by Trinity Cemetery. It contained four redoubts and was also 
protected by abattis. It was stronger than the first line. 

The foregoing are the "double lines of intrenchments" alluded to 
by historians. 

The third, without redoubts, was projected approximately along 
the line of the present 161 st street, from Washington's Headquarters 
(the Jumel or Morris Mansion, now owned by Genei'al Ferdinand P.. 
Earle) to the Hudson river, but was never completed. 

Along the central hills, where the Convent of the Sacred Heart now 
stands was a line of small unconnected batteries, overlooking the 
Harlem. 

On the promontory of Jeffrey's Hook (Fort Washington Point, 
so-called) was a redoubt intended to cover the obstruction placed acrosS: 
the river at that point. Its remains are still noticeable, and are some- 
times erroneously called the remains of Fort Washington. 

The sunken obstruction in the river is described in a letter dated 
Fort Washington, August 3, 1776, as follows: "Four ships, chained 
and boomed, with a number of amazing large chevaux de frise, were 
sunk close by the Fort under the command of General Mifflin." This 



46 Fort Washington, New York City 

device was a contrivance of General Putnam, but after its inefficiency 
was proved, the General does not appear to have been very eager to 
claim credit for it, and, in the confusion of names, it is not unfrequently 
attributed to Colonel Putnam, Chief Engineer of the Army. 

Passing six-tenths of a mile beyond Fort Washington, along Fort 
Washington avenue, to a point where the backbone of the ridge breaks 
away suddenly (between what would be 195th and 198th streets), one 
comes to Fort Tryon. At the time of the capture of Fort Washington, 
this point of vantage was credited with a single two-gun redoubt. After 
its capture it was strengthened and given the British name which it 
retains. Three conspicuous redoubts now mark the spot. They are 
immediately north of the house of W. C. Muschenheim. 

Still further north, overlooking the mouth of Spuyten Duyvil creek, 
was a little two-gun redoubt dignified with the name of Cock Hill Fort. 

Upon an eminence called Marble Hill at the very northern extremity 
of Manhattan Island, around three sides of which sweeps Spuyten Duy- 
vil creek, stood Fort Prince Charles, commanding King's Bridge on the 
north and Dyckman's Bridge on the east. The site is a few feet 
north of the residence of DeWitt Clinton Overbaugh. On July 4, 1894, 
a flag pole was erected on the spot, and Mr. Overbaugh delivered an 
address reciting the romantic and dramatic history of the Fort. The 
North Side Board of Trade has for two years been endeavoring to 
secure the conversion of the site into a park. Bayonets, bullets, cannon 
balls, human bones, a curious seal, and numerous other relics have been 
exhumed there. That it was also a place of prehistoric importance is 
attested by the stone implements and extraordinary shell deposits 
(remains of aboriginal feasts) found there. 

On the eastern side of the Island, about opposite Fort Tryon, on the 
bluff overlooking the Harlem between the termini of the present Tenth 
and Eleventh avenues, then called Laurel Hill, was a strong fortified 
position subsequently named Fort George by the British. The earth- 
works were extant in 1890, but were subsequently razed to make way 
for a proprietary pleasure resort called Fort George Park. In 1896, the 
Hon. Andrew H. Green secured the passage by the Legislature of a bill 
for the conversion of this spot into a public park, but the bill failed to 
become a law for lack of the Governor's signature. 

Down below Laurel Hill, to the northward, was a four-gun redoubt 
commanding the King's Bridge road. 

South of Laurel Hill, on the western bank of the Harlem, were a 
number of minor defenses. 

Leaving out of consideration for the moment certain works on the 
mainland hereafter to be mentioned, a glance may be taken at the extent 
of the field which the Americans had to defend. 



AND ITS Related Fortifications. 47 

A circuit of that portion of the Island bounded by the first Hne of 
intrenchments at 145th street, the Harlem river, Spuyten Duyvil creek, 
and the Hudson river, measures about ten miles. Major Graydon, m his 
"Memoirs," savs : "I find it stated by the King of Prussia, m his His- 
tory of the Seven Years' War, that 16,000 men were inadequate to the 
defense of Berlin, three miles in circumference, say nine or ten of our 
miles."* The courage of the Americans in attempting to retain an equal 
territory with onlv 3,000 is thus apparent. 

Passing now over to the mainland, to the north and east of Manhat- 
tan Island, we find a series of fortifications, one of which. Fort Number 
Eight, took an important part in the capture of Fort Washington on 
November i6th, others being more or less prominent in subsequent his- 

torv. 

' On the north slope of Spuyten Duyvil creek, on what is said to be 
the site of the old Indian fortress Nipinicksen, were three redoubts 
called, respectively, Forts Number One, Number Two, and Number 

Three. 

Fort Number One was a square stone redoubt, overlooking the 
Hudson and the mouth of Spuyten Duyvil creek. It forms the founda- 
tion of the house owned by Lewis H. Lapham and occupied by his 
cousin, A. Schlaet, just west of the junction of Sidney street with Inde- 
pendence avenue. Numerous Indian and Revolutionary relics have 
been dug up on the spot. Four-pound and six-pound solid shot pre- 
served in the house indicate the calibre of the ordnance used thereabouts. 
Fort Number Two was a circular redoubt, called by the Americans 
Fort Swartwout. It stood on the crown of the hill about midway 
between Forts Number One and Three, in a field owned by Isaac John- 
son, northwest of the intersection of Sidney and Troy streets. (The 
names of these streets do not appear on the City Directory maps.) No 
traces of the fort remain. 

Fort Number Three was a stone redoubt on the eastern brow of 
Spuyten Duyvil Hill, a few rods southeast of the house of Mrs. Warren 
B. Sage. The site is just north of Sidney and east of Troy streets. 
Thirty^ years ago Mr. Sage removed about 200 loads of stone, the 
remains of the fort, because they interfered with the growth of the grass 
on the place. Cannon balls and fragments of exploded shells are pre- 
served in Mrs. Sage's house. 

Forts Numbers One, Two and Three, originally thrown up with 
haste by the Americans in August, 1776, were abandoned by them and 
seized and strengthened by the British before the capture of Fort Wash- 



* Graydon went on to say: " Now the circuit to be defended by Magaw was scarcely less (if I have 
not much forgotten its dimensions) than four or five miles," and on that erroneous basis 
estimated that at least 10,000 men were needed for the defense of the post. 



48 Fort Washington, New York City 

ington. In November, 1778, they had a garrison of no officers and 
men. They were abandoned by the British in the fall of 1779.* 

The fourth in the series was called Fort Independence. Like Fort 
Washington, it was built by Pennsylvania troops, assisted by militia, 
under the direction of Colonel Putnam. It was a bastioned earthwork, 
with ravelins to the east and southeast. Apprehensive of the movements 
of the British, and acting under the orders of his superiors. Colonel 
Lasher destroyed his barracks and abandoned the fort October 27, 1776, 
to reinforce Colonel Magaw at Fort Washington. So hastily was the 
order carried out that the cannon and 300 stand of small arms were 
abandoned. On the following day the enemy appeared and took pos- 
session, and held it against all comers for nearly three years. Then, 
on August 16, 1779, they removed the guns, on August 17 demolished 
the magazine, and on September 12 abandoned it altogether. Its site is 
on the west side of Giles avenue, two-tenths of a mile north of its inter- 
section with Sedgwick avenue, and is occupied by a house owned by W. 
O. Giles and now used for a boarding house. Some of the earthworks 
can distinctly be traced. Two iron cannon, seven feet long and with 
four-inch bore, which were dug up on the place and for many years 
stood there, now rest upon the lawn in front of the Van Cortlandt man- 
sion in Van Cortlandt Park. The memory of the Fort is preserved in 
the names of the adjacent "Fort Independence Street" and "Cannon 
Place." 

Proceeding down Giles and Sedgwick avenues .55 of a mile, from 
Fort Independence, one comes to the house of Edward E. Fames, built 
well back from the road on the eastern side. Directly back of this- 
house, 300 feet, is the site of Fort Number Five, now within the city's 
purchase for the Jerome Park Reservoir. This fort was about 70 feet 
square. It was occupied by the British in 1777, and dismantled Septem- 
ber 18, 1779. 

Fort Number Six, or the King's Redoubt, was situated .45 of a 
mile south of Fort Number Five, on the same side of the avenue. The 
site is very distinctly marked by a conspicuous mound 380 feet northeast 
of the house of Mrs. N. P. Bailey. 



* On a British map engraved by act of parliament, October loth, 1776, Tippett's or Sinisien 
Duyvil Hill on which these three forts stood is erroneously called "Tetard's Hill," and this 
mistake has been the seed of an extensive crop of errors in subsequent maps reproduced 
or drawn for modem histories. On a military map in Lossing's "Pictorial Field Book of 
the Revolution," in addition to the perpetuation of this mistake. Fort Independence is also- 
located on the hill. As a consequence, the beUef is locally entertained by many that one 
of these three forts is Fort Independence, and a neighboring street bears the misnomer of 
"Independence Street." The fact is, that Fort Number Four on the accompanying map- 
is Fort Independence and marks the site of Tetard's Hill, Dominic Tetard's farm having 
been northeast of King's Bridge. The "Fort Independence Street" in that neighborhood 
is properly entitled to the name. 



AND ITS Related Fortifications. 49* 

Fort Number Seven was .6 of a mile farther south, on the same 
side of Sedgwick avenue, just south of the intersection of the Fordham 
Landing road, on the property of Oswald Cammann. In the absence 
of any trace of the redoubt, its location cannot be stated with exactness. 

Forty-five hundredths of a mile still farther south, on the same 
side of the avenue, between the University buildings and Burnside ave- 
nue, is the site of Fort Number Eight, the remains of which were visible 
when the residence of Mrs. Gustav Schwab was built in 1857. Cannon 
balls, grape shot, English coins, uniform buttons, bridle ornaments, 
pike tips, broken camp kettles, and other martial relics dug up on the 
place are preserved in the house. The redoubt was a few feet north 
of the house, at a spot marked by a boulder which is inscribed : "The 
Site of Fort Number Eight, 1776- 1783." When the boulder was dedi- 
cated in 1896, Mrs. Schwab's son. Prof. John Christopher Schwab, of 
Yale University, delivered a very scholarly and critical address on the 
subject of Fort Number Eight and its relation to the Revolutionary 
War. The fort was hastily erected by the British in preparation for the 
siege of Fort Washington, and it was upon the completion of this work 
that Gen. Howe felt himself in a position to forward the demand which 
he had made upon Colonel Magaw, November 15, 1776, to surrender. 
During the next six years it figured conspicuously in the military history 
of New York and Westchester County. The redoubt was supplied with 
heavy artillery and field pieces (presumably brought up from New York) 
capable of storming the works on Laurel Hill, across the Harlem. Gray- 
don thus refers to the fort in his "Memoirs" : "On the west side of the 
Harlem river (Laurel Hill) a body of men was posted to watch the 
motions of the enemy who had erected works on the high commanding 
ground east of that river, apparently with the design of covering the 
landing of the troops in that part of the Island of New York." General 
Heath, referring to its subsequent use, says in his "Memoirs" : "The 
enemy had a redoubt on the east side»of Harlem creek, nearly opposite to 
the fort on Laurel Hill, and under the fire of its cannon, for the security 
of their advanced troops on the Morrisania side. The ultimate fate of 
the work is recorded on another page of Heath's "Memoirs" : "On the 
20th of October, 1782, the enemy were demolishing their works at Num- 
ber Eight, Morrisania." * 

With this outline of Fort Washington and its related fortifications,. 
we now proceed to a relation of the operations of November 16, 1776 : 

♦Passing northward along Sedgwick Avenue, with Washington Bridge for a starting point, a 
cyclometer will register the following, ■ sta.ices: Washington Bridge, o; opposite Fort 
Number Eight, i mile; opposite Fort Nun.ber Seven, 1.45; opposite Fort Number Six, 2.05: 
intersection of King's Bridge Road, 2.3; opposite Fort Number Five, 2.5; intersection of 
Giles Avenue, 2.85; opposite Fort Independence, 3.05. 



50 Fort Washington, New York City. 

PART IV. 

THE DEFENCE AND REDUCTION OF MOUNT 
WASHINGTON, MANHATTAN ISLAND. 

By Reginald Pelham Bolton. 



WASHINGTON HEIGHTS AT THE TIME OF THE 
REVOLUTION. 

THE northern extremity of the Island of Manhattan consists of a 
precipitous elevation, rising abruptly in every direction from 
water to water, extending some four miles from 127th street 
to Spuvten Duvvil creek, and averaging about two-thirds of a mile in 
width. 

The mass of granitic gneiss of which it consists, formed, in some 
condition of the glacial period, a barrier to the flood emerging from 
the icy mass, and the waters sawed their way between Inwood Hill and 
Riverdale, and swirling around in the pool which afterward formed the 
marshes of the Inwood valley, found a second vent by the course of the 
Harlem, leaving the scored and worn hump of rock dividing two rivers, 
bounded on the east by the heights of Fordham, and on the west by the 
precipices of the Palisades. As the ice receded the surface was sprinkled 
with the loose, water-worn boulders brought down from the highlands 
of Dutchess county and Connecticut, and the whole became covered 
with a thin skin of alluvial soil. 

The advance of vegetation brought the forests growth, which for 
countless years grew and wasted. The birches throve in the crevices of 
the steep crags, and the locality became to the natives, a portion of the 
Weckquaskeek, "the birch-bark country," extending along the river 
from Yonkers down to the anchorage ground where Hudson brought 
to his ship, below the sheltering promontory of Jeffrey's Hook, and gaz- 
ing on the swelling heights as the northwest breeze ruffled the tree tops 
against the background of clear blue sky, declared it to be the fairest 
land on which the foot of man had ever trod. 

The settlers of the New Netherland, following hard after the pio- 
neer, drove their Dutch bargain for the Island with a few Indian rep- 
resentatives, perhaps from their village on the Riverdale hillside, in all 



Washington Heights in 1776. 51 

probability ignoring the real inhabitants who dwelt on the only part of 
the Island of value from an Indian point of view, the tree-crowned 
heights which formed shelter, fishing and hunting ground. 

That the natives had little understanding that they were parting 
with these their natural rights appears clear from their resentment 
when later troubles arose on these subjects, and their late maintenance 
of a claim to the extreme summit of the Island. 

The wild wooded heights presented but little attraction to the 
prosaic farmers of the Harlem flatlands, and for many a long decade 
the Indians were left to such possession as they desired, one of their 
encampments being on the south side of Inwood Hill, near the foot of 
Bolton road, and another probably on Jeffrey's Hook, with a small space 
under cultivation above that locality, near the highest elevation, on 
which a field of maize extended south of i8ist street, between the pres- 
ent King's Bridge road and the Hudson bluff, in a marshy depression, 
the source of the little brook which still finds an outlet down the valley 
northward to the Harlem river at Sherman's creek. 

The burghers of New Haarlem regarded the wild woods as of so 
equivocal a tenure, and so doubtful a value, that at most they were 
treated and used as common lands, in which any or all should help them- 
selves at their own risk, to products of the forest, alive or inanimate. 

In time, their hogs ran wild below the trees, and when palisadoes 
were required, the inhabitants turned out in a body and cut what they 
required on the common account. The growth of settlers' families at 
last led to a desire to adapt the wild lands to civilization, and Magistrate 
Van Oblinus obtained consent of his fellow townsmen to occupation of 
a part, and seeking the relics of the aboriginal owners, purchased for 
his hardy son Hendrik, the first settler, the equivocal right to squat 
without molestation on their half-cultivated oasis. 

Such a privilege for one was naturally soon succeeded by demands 
for like advantages on the part of others, and by 171 2 it had become 
desirable, in the view of the British Governor, to allot the common 
lands, in strips which extended from river to river, among the free- 
holders of the Dutch village. 

The Van Oblinus family, by luck or favor, drew lands contiguous to 
that already occupied by their relative, and the family were thus estab- 
lished in possession of the loftiest section of the heights, extending from 
about the line of 165th street to i8ist street, at the head of the valley 
descending to Inwood, and containing the most desirable cultivable 
ground on the elevated portion. This elevated portion extends north- 
ward along the Hudson bank for about three-fourths of a mile, and was 
then and for fifty years later known simply as the Long Hill. 



52 Fort Washington, New York City. 

As time passed on, the facilities of the use of the post-road which 
had been blazed through the woods on the line of least resistance, 
brought other settlers, and from Breakneck Hill, where the road rose 
steeply from the plains, to the bridge across the creek, which took toll 
under the King's patent, a scattered line of farmhouses existed at that 
period of unrest when the principles for which the Revolution was 
begun, were in agitation in every home. 

In his trips along the post-road to visit his friends, the Philipse 
family, at Yonkers, the beauties of the position had attracted the atten- 
tion of a well-to-do gentleman and officer, Roger Morris, who had 
erected in 1756 a handsome dwelling on the east side of the road at 161 st 
street, which was later to figure for m.any an eventful month as the 
centre and shelter of military authority, beneath whose roof affairs of 
international importance were destined to be transacted, and which for- 
tunately has escaped the perils of war, of changes of ownership and of 
modern improvements and remains an interesting relic of the history 
of this part of the great metropolis. 

Hard by was a white house, part farmhouse, part place of refresh- 
ment, which stood on the opposite side of the post-road, which after- 
ward figured in events of interest, and at about 153rd street another 
small farmhouse sheltered other humble neighbors, and survived the 
vicissitudes of time till a comparatively recent period. 

Just west of the present line of Amsterdam avenue at 147th street 
stood the residence of another British officer, Colonel John Maunsell ; 
which, previous to the period of the Revolution, had passed into the 
possession of an inhabitant of the West Indies, by name Charles Aitken 
of St. Croix. Where the steep hill reached the summit parallel with this 
residence was another smaller dwelling near the road. Between the inn 
then kept by the Widow Day at the southern extremity of the Heights, 
on 127th street near Eighth avenue, and Cox's tavern at Kingsbridge, 
only one other inn existed, on the east side of the road exactly on the line 
of i8ist street, in front of which, at the head of the long steep rise from 
Inwood long known as the Kingsbridge road, and now as Broadway, 
swung the sign of the Blue Bell, in and around which events of intense 
interest were later to take place. 

The Oblinus family was still represented on part of its original 
holdings by John and Mary Oblinus, to whose son Hendrick the parents 
had recently assigned the major part of their farm, and had also sold a 
hundred acres, with a dwelling house, probably the inn, to Blazius Moore, 
a merchant in tobacco, then resident at John street and Broadway, whose 
sister Rosannah had married John Bernard Bowers, a student of 
divinity from Germany, who had settled in the district and lived hard by 



Washington Heights in 1776. 53 

the inn. Further north the families of Dyckman, Vermilye, Nagle and 
Post farmed the lowlands of the Inwood valley, the farmhouse of the 
latter being situated close to the west bank of the Harlem river on the 
line of 2ioth street, and known until its destruction by fire in 1901 as 
the Century house. Such were the social conditions of Washington 
Heights when the principles which were shortly to lead to the Revolu- 
.tion were anxiously discussed at every fireside. 



54 Fort Washington, New York City. 

II. 
THE PREPARATION FOR THE STORM. 

It was in the very early days of the year 1776, a year destined to 
become one of so much of exciting incident to the City of New York, that 
General Washington, whose anxious forethought had predicted the plans 
of the British authorities for the seizure of the town as the base of their 
future operations, took the first definite steps toward placing the threat- 
ened locality in some state of anticipatory defense. 

On the loth of January he wrote to Colonel, the Earl of Stirling, 
then in command of such American forces as were in the neighborhood 
of New York, informing him that Major-General Charles Lee had been 
despatched from Boston, "with orders to repair to New York with such 
volunteers as he can raise on his way to put the city and the fortifica- 
tions up the river in the best posture of defense the season and situation 
of affairs will admit of." 

The city was under the nominal control of Governor Tryon, whose 
undermined authority was only backed by the presence in the bay of 
His Majesty's ships of war, the "Asia" and the "Phoenix," to the former 
of which he retired in the second week of February. 

It appears that the general scheme of the defenses of Manhattan, or 
York Island as it was then commonly called, was due to the versatile, 
but somewhat unreliable, Lee, whose scheme was in due course sub- 
mitted to the Commander-in-Chief, and received his approval, as he 
wrote to Stirling on March 14 : "The plan of defenses formed by Gen- 
eral Lee is, from what little I know of the place, a very judicious one." 
Stirling was specially occupied in prosecuting the work, "fortifying," 
he says, "every advantageous spot" near New York, "laboring at the 
completion of the works." The original location of the forts afterward 
known by the names of Forts Washington and Constitution, on 
opposite sides of the narrowed channel at Jeffrey's Hook, were cer- 
tainly due to these two olBcers, and the titles by which they were there- 
after to be known may have been Lee's conception. 

On the 29th of March the Commander-in-Chief detailed General 
Israel Putnam to assume the command at New York, and having become 
by that time assured of the intentions of the British to make this locality 
the scene of their next attempts, he directed him specially to "proceed in 
continuing to execute the plan proposed by Major-General Lee for forti- 
fying that city and securing the passes of the East and North rivers." 
His own arrival with the forces under his command followed on 
April 14. 



Preparation for the Storm. 55 

Among those earnest men on whom in that time of anxiety Wash- 
ington leaned was Colonel Henry Knox, acting as chief of artillery, a 
branch in which the needs were more sorely felt than in others, and him 
the Commander called to the city in order to lay on him the duty of 
providing the guns, without w^hich the fortifications were of little use. 

On April 30 he arrived and proceeded to organize the companies 
of artillerymen, artificers, sappers and smiths, engineers and wheel- 
wrights, which could be sorted out of the heterogeneous collection of 
civilians who had come together to the support of the cause of liberty. 

On June 10 he reported that he could command 121 cannon of all 
kinds, light and heav}', old and new, in and around New York, for the 
handling of which his total force amounted to 520 men and officers, a 
work for which effectively to be done 1,200 men were none too many. 

Colonel Knox was a particular friend of General Nathaniel Greene, 
who at the end of May took up with him and other leading officers the 
question of the extension of the system of fortifications in the upper 
part of the Island of Manhattan. 

"I am obliged to defer going up to King's Bridge till another day," 
the General wrote to Knox on the 29th of May. "I will endeavor to 
see you this afternoon, and fix upon some other time for reconnoitering 
the ground up and about King's Bridge." 

Knox was occupied at this time, as engineer, in selecting sites ; 
and Greene, Heath and Putnam in advising and determining on 
their use. 

On the /th of June Greene returned from his duties in Brooklyn 
and entered into this matter with them. During their expeditions they 
examined not only the Long Hill, on which a work had already been 
begun, but the entire heights, then commonly classified as the "Heights 
of Harlem," and by one or other, "the commanding height near Mor- 
ris' house" was pointed out "as a position which, if properlv fortified, 
would be nearly impregnable." 

We may imagine the group examining, from Macomb's place in the 
valley below, the precipitous bluffs, out of the woody steeps of which the 
portico of Colonel Morris' residence peeped from among the surround- 
ing trees, or riding along the post-road and thence examining the deep 
declivities of Audubon Park and extending their rides through the 
wood;; to the crowning summit beyond the Oblinus farm. 

We can feel confident that the party must have taken rest and 
refreshment at the inns along the heights, resting perhaps at Morris' 
house at 161 st street, where the merits of proposed positions for the 
intrenchments afterward constructed across the narrow line of bluffs 
were perhaps discussed; and undoubtedly at the Blue Bell, at i8ist 



56 Fort Washington, New York City. 

street, where the Hues of the fort, then partly constructed, and the exten- 
sion of its outer works were talked over and developed. 

There was evidently some divergence of opinion, the more cautious 
Greene and Heath insisting that even if the whole system were made 
"as strong as Gibraltar " it would be but "a mere trap from which it 
would be impossible for the army to extricate itself, unless the high 
grounds above the bridge (that is, around Fordham and Riverdale) 
"were occupied at the same time." Alas, that this sound judgment was 
not remembered by one of them after those same high grounds were in 
the actual possession of an enemy. For the time being this opinion pre- 
vailed, and it was decided not only to complete the extensive defenses 
of the fort on the Long Hill, but to lay out a chain of forts outside the 
island's limits, on the high points beyond the Harlem river, extending 
from Riverdale to Fordham, and across the Hudson on the line of nar- 
rowest width to complete the companion fortress which with the Man- 
hattan works should control the passage of the noble estuary. 

It is evident that the rugged features of the locality captivated the 
imagination of all as a secure future fortress which should in due course 
defy the efforts of the enemy on land and water. About the middle of 
June Washington, in person, surveyed the locality on horseback, when 
he gave definite directions as to the disposition of defenses around the 
central position. 

Its distinct importance as the key of the lower Hudson no doubt 
operated in deciding its title, for it was about this time that the Long 
Hill, as well as its fort, became known by the familiar name of the 
beloved commander, and in all future references was known as Mount 
Washington, an appropriate title, which it is not too much to hope may 
in time be restored to it. 

For the carrying out of the executive work Colonel Rufus Putnam 
was detailed as chief engineer, charged, he tells us, "with laying out 
and overseeing the works" at Fort Washington, "a service of much 
fatigue, for my whole time was taken up from daylight in the morn- 
ing until night in the business, besides sometimes going in the night 
by water from New York to Fort Washington." 

In the early summer days the arrival of a British fleet was immi- 
nent, and on July 12 the advance guard of the vast hostile armada of 
war ships and transports lay at anchor in the lower bay. 

Washington's expectation that the British would make the Hudson 
river their ultimate point of attack was immediately demonstrated, as 
that very day the frigates "Phcenix" and "Rose," followed by the 
schooner "Tryal" and two other small craft, boldly rushed their way 
past the batteries of the city and of the Heights. These vessels, favored 
'by wind and tide, moved so rapidly through range of the guns on the 



Preparation for the Storm. 57 

Heights that though every muzzle was brought to bear on them they 
received Httle damage, and their decks being piled high with sandbags 
protected their men against the rifle fire from the woods and the sharp- 
shooters at the Hook. They succeeded in making their way to the 
Tappan Zee, where they commenced a series of soundings for the 
guidance of future operations, and by their communication with the dis- 
affected and with the Tory sympathizers in Westchester and Dutchess 
counties, formed a menace to the security of the entire American system 
of defense. Their success caused anxious enquiry as to the probability 
of obstructing their return passage, and of the advance of any others that 
might make attempts to join them. General Putnam, with his friend, 
Brigadier-General Mifflin, undertook preliminary steps in that direction. 
The comparatively narrow portion of the river at Jeffrey's Point 
afforded the only practicable opportunity, and they began a survey of 
the river's depth at that point. 

They had finished this work by July 21 when, as William Duer 
wrote, they had found "the depth in no part exceeds seven fathoms; 
the width, however, of the channel (which is from three to seven 
fathoms) is not much less than 1800 yards, the shallow part of the river 
running in an oblique direction," as it still does, west by south from 
the Point to the Jersey shore. 

The project was necessarily an extensive one. It was to be no less 
than an attempt to block the fairway by sinking vessels, chained together, 
at certain spots selected with the intention of forcing any vessel which 
should avoid them near the guns of the elevated fortifications. As the 
depth of the channel was so great the hulks were to be provided with 
long masts or spars, standing high above their decks, which should pro- 
trude above water level. 

Even so immense an operation did not daunt the spirits of the patri- 
ots, and preparations were promptly made, vessels condemned and 
appraised, materials and men gathered, and an expert brought from 
Philadelphia. The work was carried on mainly at the Hook, under the 
charge of Colonel Robert Magaw, commandant of the Fort, and was 
conducted by Captain Mathew Cook, and generally supervised by Wash- 
ington's own aide-de-camp, Tench Tilghman. 

Standing on either side at this part of the river the magnitude of 
the work those anxious yet determined men contemplated strikes the 
observer in a manner more illustrative than the observation of any other 
of the operations of the men of ''jd. It was Israel Putnam to whose fer- 
tile mind was due the scheme, the execution of which was undertaken by 
the men under the command of Brigadier-General Mifilin. The latter 
was just the man for the purpose. An educated man of cultivated and 
animated manners, he was full of activity and fire ; though described as- 



58 Fort Washington, New York City. 

being "rather too much of a bustler, harassing his men unnecessarily," 
with a great talent for haranguing. He commanded the best Continen- 
tal troops from Pennsylvania, including the battalions of Shee, St. Clair, 
Wayne, and Magaw, of which the first was composed largely of aristo- 
cratic Philadelphians, and the last was the Fifth Regiment, composed of 
the hardy frontiersmen of the Cumberland Valley, men to whom the 
labors of the field and the wood presented no novelty. 

These troops were then encamped around King's Bridge, a term 
which may be taken then to include in a general way the northern por- 
tion of the Heights, and for many a week of that summer thev were 
engaged in hauling stone to load the condemned hulks at the Hook, 
while others made the woods ring with their axes and with their songs 
as they plied shovel, mattock and crowbar in the erection of those sub- 
stantial mounds whose features the wear and tear of a hundred and 
tv/enty-five seasons have been unable entirely to efface. It is sad to 
think of the high hopes with which they toiled at the construction of 
what was to become to many of them a trap to land them in the suft'er- 
ings of prison martyrdom, malignant disease and early death. 

The work of oljtaining, preparing, chaining and sinking vessels 
went on till on August 3 the first set of three were sunk, and with their 
spars protruding above tide level nuist have presented a formidable 
appearance to a navigator. 

Meantime the frigates had not been left in peaceable possession, 
and ])reparations were made to attack them by lire vessels. While these 
were being constructed a most determined and desperate attack was 
made upon these powerful vessels by the American semi-marine force 
of East Coast 'longshoremen, in open rowboats and in broad daylight. 
The attack was repulsed with loss, but its bravery excited the admira- 
tion of all beholders. 

Fourteen days later, on the night of August 16, two small craft 
filled with inflammable materials were floated out from Spuyten Duyvil 
creek, and at dead of night were fired when alongside the British squad- 
ron. One was secured to a bomb-ketch, being one of the tenders of the 
frigates, and burned her to the water's edge, while the other fell foul 
of the "Phoenix" which barely escaped annihilation b}' cutting her cables 
and rigging. The hardihood of the small forlorn hope crews did not 
enable them all to escape, as five or six were drowned, but the British 
loss was severe, some seventy lives having been lost. 

The frigates took advantage of the first favorable wind to return to 
the lower bay, the position of the newly sunk obstructions being revealed 
to them by a deserter, enabling them to get by comparatively uninjured, 
though exposed to a furious fire from the forts. There followed the 
disasters of Brooklyn and of Kips Bay, and the concentration of the 



Preparation for the Storm. 59 

American forces upon the Heights where, in Roger Morris' residence, 
the Commander-in-Chief estabhshed himself on September 15. Work 
on the obstructions was pushed all August and September, its necessity 
becoming more appparent on the American retreat from the lower part 
of the island, and in October several more vessels were almost ready to 
be added to those at the bottom of the river, when another incursion took 
place, timed evidently by news of the imminence of the completion of 
the work, and led by the same hardy commander, Hyde Parker, in the 
"Phoenix,'' accompanied by the frigates "Roebuck" and "Tartar" and 
three ketches, sailed boldly between the forts, receiving their fire 
and that of the newly-made battery on the Hook. Losing six men 
and three officers, and eighteen wounded, they nevertheless steered clear 
of the spars and ran up to Dobbs Ferry, forming the advance guard of 
the grand combined movement designed bv Sir William Howe. 



6o Fort Washington, New York City, 

III. 

THE DEFENSES OF THE MOUNT. 

At the time of the evacuation of the City of New York by the 
American army, the heights of Harlem were most naturally and prop- 
erly selected as its place of retreat and further resistance to the enemy. 
The wooded sides of the hills rising on the south abruptly from the 
valley of the Hollow Way, now designated very unnecessarily as Man- 
hattan street, flanked on the west by the broad Hudson and on the east 
by the still more precipitous point known as the Point of Rocks, domi- 
nating the plain of Harlem and the post-road below, afforded an excel- 
lent vantage ground, with a secure cover for supports in the elevated 
ground extending northward between the Hudson and Harlem to and 
beyond the fortifications which had for months past menaced the pas- 
sage of the river and which now became the central point around which 
other forms of defensive works were hastily commenced, suited to the 
presence of a large defensive force. 

The immediate presence of the foe at the south necessitated work 
first in that direction and ere the appearance of the redcoats of the enemy 
in the abandoned line of earthworks across McGowan's pass, now in 
Central Park, the men under Greene's command had thrown up some 
intrenchments along the brow of the hill overlooking the marshy end of 
the Hollow Way, known then as the Salt Meadow or Vly of Matje 
David, and on the Point of Rocks a little redoubt, and probably other 
slender breastworks at vulnerable points along what is some day to 
become Colonial Park. During the fighting on the Claremont hill of 
September i6, the men held in reserve were vehemently laboring on 
a line of defensive earthwork which was to be used to bar any retaliatory 
advance by the enemy in heavy force. This line was placed a little dis- 
tance back along the hilltop, at what is now 147th street, its location 
being chosen by reason of the line of the post-road reaching the summit 
at this point by the steep and rough ascent, known then and long since 
by the appropriate title of Breakneck Hill. This earthwork passed just 
south of Spencer's headquarters in the Maunsell house, and was planned 
in an irregular zigzag, taking advantage of the contour of the rocky 
ground, and being at a later period developed into a more complete mili- 
tary form, with an abattis of felled brushwood along the open ground in 
front, and two redoubts, one at the post-road, the other at a point where 
the "Boulevard," or Broadway, now intersects the height, and of which 
the last faint remaining trace still exists on a vacant plot at the intersec- 
tion of 147th street with that thoroughfare. 



The Defenses of the Mount. 6i 

During- the end of September and early October a second line was 
constructed between 153rd and 155th streets, the line of which may be 
traced by the contour of the irregular eminences now enclosed as Trinity 
Churchyard, within which the exhumation of many military relics has 
borne witness to this use of the ground. At the southern extremity of 
the cemetery on Broadway, a tablet marking this use of the rising 
rocks above, has been very appropriately placed by the Sons of the 
Revolution. East of Amsterdam avenue the earthworks extended evi- 
dently on the south side of 155th street through the property of the Hon. 
John Whalen, cutting the post-road, now St. Nicholas avenue, and 
proceeding to the edge of the hillside overlooking the Harlem, appar- 
ently ending in some sort of a redoubt about where the Speedway has 
been formed to enter St. Nicholas place. 

A third line was commenced, but was not completed, commencing 
at the Morris house on the line of i62d street, again obstructing the 
post-road at this point, and extending westward over the rocks along 
161 st street across the present Broadway just below i6ist street, cross- 
ing the line of Fort Washington avenue, which was then a little valley 
or depression, and skirting around the abrupt hill which formed part of 
the Lewis property in later days, and which still, shorn but recently of 
its pristine verdure, dominates the entrance of the Boulevard Lafayette. 

Beyond these three lines, known respectively as the first, second and 
third, no other intrenchments had been made until Fort Washington 
was reached, but the latter was now surrounded by an outer line of 
breastworks extending around the slope which formed its glacis, over 
which the fire of its cannon could sweep downward. These lines, irregu- 
larly taking advantage of the rocky ground, commenced at the head of 
the valley looking toward In wood a little north of i8ist street, and west 
of Broadway, where rocks form a natural rampart, a point still known 
locally as the Death Gap, ere long, it is to be feared, to be swept under 
the line of a modern avenue. Around the fields and across the line of 
Fort Washington avenue the line followed by the breastworks may still 
"be faintly traced, and west along the Hudson front of the Moi^ t.^-^irough 
the property of Mr. James Gordon Bennett, circling round t<^. the north 
on lines now entirely obliterated, to the point where the precipitous sides 
of the hill fall down to the valley below, where the post-road descended 
sharply toward the King's Bridge. ^ 

The central fortification, which the above describee breastworks 
enclosed, has been very exactly located by the America^'- Scenic and 
Historic Preservation Society, and cannot better be describe;^! than in the 
words of the Empire State Society of the Sons of the Amerii/:an Revolu- 
tion, in presenting a memorial to the authorities of the C'ty of New 



62 Fort Washington, New York City. 

York bespeaking; their attention to the fast disappearing remains of this 
important fortification. 

"An observer stationed at the intersection of Eleventh avenue and 
183rd street, with a compass corrected for magnetic deviation, will 
find that the avenue runs about 29 degrees east of north, and the street 
61 degrees west of north, an angle of 90 degrees. If he will proceed to 
the point where the western curb-line of Fort Washington avenue would 
be intersected by the line of the southern sidewalk of 183rd street if 
projected, and walk thence 356 feet in the direction of the continuance 
of the line, he will stand on what remains of the NW bastion of the fort. 
This bastion is rapidly wearing away under the action of the weather. 
Looking a few degrees west of south from the NW bastion, we may see, 
162 feet distant, the extremity of the SW bastion, wholly covered with 
verdure and in a much better state of preservation. Plotting the fort 
according to the plans obtainable it is found that James Gordon Ben- 
nett's house lies close to the N bastion, that an unoccupied house (the 
Morewood residence, removed in 1891) stands upon the site of the SE 
bastion, and that the old Four-in-Hand Club House, built some thirty 
years ago (since destroyed by a windstorm and afterward burned) 
stands between the NW and SW bastions where additional room has 
been made for it by blasting." 

It may be added that an outer redoubt was probably planned just 
at the north of the fort, encircling the present Bennett house, and that 
the interior of the fort seems to have been destitute of any casemate 
or cover for the magazine or for the defenders, while the nature 
of the ground precluded the construction of any outer ditch or trench 
as such a fortress would naturally have required for its entire com- 
pleteness in a defensive sense. The nature of the ground, on which 
little soil is to be found, makes clear the difficulties under which its 
construction was effected, and the fact that the Hessians and British 
occupants during seven years' possession, made practically no 
changes in its character, evidences the ability with which its con- 
structors made use of all possible material. Its armaments at diflferent 
periods j^ varied considerably. At first it probably had only a 'few 
small gurK^. but as larger ones became available pieces up to 18 
pounds carryi'ig capacity were added, until at the time of its loss to the 
Americans its captors reported it to contain four guns of 32 pounds, 
two of 18 pounds, seven of 12 pounds, four of 9 pounds, fifteen of 6 
pounds, eightj^of three pounds, and two 5^ inch howitzers. 

These, Hjwever, probably included the guns in the outer lines and 
works, which were, however, of the small sizes above mentioned, leav- 
ing, therefcL.e, probably, all the heavier pieces as the armament of the 
fort. i 



The Defenses of the Mount. 63 

Fort Washington must, in a military sense, be regarded as in itself 
the citadel or central keep of a fortress which included the entire heights 
and of which the three lines previously described, though distant a 
mile away, formed a part. 

On the point or hook about 1,500 feet away and some 200 feet 
below, was the redoubt, elsewhere described, constructed in October 
to bring guns to bear at closer range on vessels avoiding the sunken 
obstructions, and on the rock forming the extremity of the hook, a little 
work for a single gun, known as a "lunette," was at some period erected. 

On the north the Long Hill extends about three-quarters of a mile, 
its ridge being now followed by Fort Washington avenue to a point 
where it descends abruptly toward Inwood. The crest, known some- 
what later as Forest Hill, and by its British captors designated Fort 
Tryon, was the site of an earthwork and outer breastworks the form of 
some of which may at present be easily perceived. This redoubt was 
armed with only a couple of small guns, and was intended as the north- 
erly part of the central fortification, the nature of the rocky and wooded 
fastness being depended upon mainly as its support. The earthworks 
began in ground now owned by Mr. C. K. G. Billings, on which his resi- 
dence is to be constructed, in a little angular redoubt overlooking the 
Hudson and commanding a magnificent prospect up and down the river. 
Thence southeasterly a breastwork of rocks was made to the edge of 
the hill overlooking the post-road 160 feet below, terminating on a rock 
in the ground by the stable of Mr. W. C. Muschenheim. Half way 
down the flank of the hill toward the Hudson, just above the Boulevard 
Lafayette, will be found a complete breastwork about 120 feet long, 
facing northwest, and on the north brow of the hill another extremely 
strong earthwork about 60 feet in length overlooks and dominates the 
hill slope toward the one-time residence now known as the "Abbey 
Hotel." This hill descends, then rises again at the north to a less emi- 
nence, around which Fort Washington avenue has been carried in a 
curve through picturesque woods ; thence its rocky face is almost of the 
character of a blufT on all sides, the great rocks standing sheer up out 
of the woods, their mossgrown sides overhanging the slopes up which 
the Hessians climbed, and on which by scores they fell and died. 

Still further north across the little Inwood Valley rises a noble iso- 
lated hill crowned now with the picturesque spire of the chapel of St. 
Mary, just north of which, in the grounds of Mr. James McCreery was 
a little redoubt known as the Cock Hill fort. 

On the easterly side of the island, from 155th street north to 192nd 
street, no defenses had been constructed, reliance being placed evidently 
in the precipitous nature of the hillside, though a British map shows a 



1 V 64 Fort Washington, New York City. 

little earthwork just below the Morris house, at the edge of the Harlem 
waters. 

Beyond this, however, the hillside, though naturally strong, formed 
a weak side of the defences, as in several places the gullies formed by 
winter torrents afforded a means of ascent to the summit, though such 
an ascent would and eventually proved to be no easy task in the face of 
even a handful of defenders posted on the overhanging rocks which still 
retain their character of natural defences, along the woods of High 
Bridge Park above the Speedway. 

At the northerly extremity of this easterly side of the heights is 
what is now known as Fort George, then Laurel hill, on the northern 
"brow of which, where now the Schultheis Casino is offensively perched, 
was a strong earth and rock work overlooking the creek which extended 
at the foot of the hill from the Harlem into the salt meadows farmed 
by the Nagle, Dyckman and Post families. On the north side of this 
creek, long known as Sherman's, on a little isolated mound swept away 
by the city in its ill-timed development of the Inwood marshes into city 
streets, was a little outwork or battery of one gun designed to obstruct 
the passage of the postroad which here wound eastward to the bank of 
the Harlem, and perhaps at the same time to dispute the use of the 
creek as a landing place. 

Such were the defences committed to the care of the men of 1776, and 
when they are considered to have been re-enforced by the natural 
features of the ground, by the dense woods that enshrouded them, by the 
felled timber and brushwood on points of access to them, and above all 
by the ignorance of their opponents as to their exact nature and where- 
abouts, it must be conceded that they presented a strength beyond that 
of ordinary fortifications. 

In 1807, when Randel made his survey of the district, the earth- 
works were still some six or seven feet high. At the present time, they 
are still, with the exception of the south lines and those at Fort 
"George," which are completely destroyed, very largely traceable, 
notably the works on the water side, and those at Fort "Tryon." The 
difficulties of construction of these works can be appreciated by an 
examination of the locality. In every instance the loose material must 
have been conveyed considerable distances, as the tops of the eminences 
are, by nature's action, bare rocks, and sand and earth are found only in 
hollows and bottoms of the irregular hills. Thus it is probable that the 
material forming the great banks and platforms which composed the 
fort, was hauled from the low ground around the base of the eminence. 
The interested visitors who will extend their rambles northward 
along the Boulevard Lafayette, or coming over the hill from the line of 
Broadway past Holyrood Church at i8ist street, will find between the 



A Topograpli 

New^ 

Exhibi/tn^ the E 



dieJ 



X 

H 



ForKl 



The Defenses of the Mount. 65» 

Boulevard and the river a stretch of parkland which, thanks to the" 
unceasing exertions in time past of Hon. Andrew H. Green, has been' 
preserved to illustrate in a most direct manner, the efforts of the patriots' 
of 1776. 

A picturesque and winding road, entered from Depot Lane, is- 
joined by a little footpath from the Boulevard, and unitedly crossing 
the deep rock cutting of the Hudson river railroad, bring the observer 
on to the bold promontory which was known in Colonial times as 
Jeffrey's Hook, which standing far out into the noble river, narrows its 
width by its massive rocks, around which the imi)cded tide unceasingly 
surges. 

On this point they will stand wdiere passed and repassed nearly every 
man and officer engaged in the campaign, and where for many an 
anxious hour the men on whom the responsibility of the revolution 
chiefly laid, planned and worked to dispute the passage of the great 
water-way with the power of the British nav}-. 

Within the arm made b}' the Hook, on its southern side, are two 
little sandy coves, whose beaches were the landing place of the traffic 
that was carried on between the troops on the island, and those quar- 
tered on the opposite heights. 

A little wa\' l)ack from the point among the steep rocks that line the 
rugged pathway, the visitor will find the most complete existing relic o£ 
the work of the revolutionary troops in the battery or redoubt previously 
referred to, which was constructed in the fail of '76, by a battalion o£ 
Scotsmen of Malcolm's regiment under the command of Captain 
Robert Smith, and was planned, and its construction directed by a 
French volunteer engineer, Antoine Felix Imbert. It is at once the best 
preserved as it is the most militarily regular of the earthworks of the 
locality, evidencing the military training of its designer. 

Standing within the grass-grown entrenchment and viewing the 
noble stream in both directions, one may appreciate better than at any 
other place, the determination and enthusiasm of the men of the revolu- 
tion, and may obtain an excellent impression of the magnitude of the 
work they undertook in the defense of the estuary, on which so much of 
their labor was expended and in which so many poor fellows sacrificed 
libertv and life. 



66 Fort Washington, New York City. 



IV. 

CAMP LIFE OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY ON THE 

HEIGHTS. 

During the eventful month of August, 1776, the troops that garri- 
soned the upper end of the island were under the general command of 
Major General Heath, whose headquarters vacillated between the Blue 
Bell Tavern, then kept by Jacob Moore, the farmhouse of John Post at 
2ioth street, on the margin of Harlem river, and Cox's Tavern at the 
north side of the Kingsbridge. His two divisions at Mount Wash- 
ington and at Kingsbridge were under the direction respectively of 
Brigadier Generals Thomas Mifflm and George Clinton. It was 
Mifflin's corps that provided the timely re-inforcement, consisting of 
Shea's and Magaw's fine regiments, which on August 29th covered 
the masterly retreat from the disaster of Brooklyn, where the 
losses of the plucky southern regiments so decimated their number as 
to render a combination of the survivors necessary into a new com- 
bined regiment, which was again to distinguish itself at the climax 
of afifairs on the Heights. After the retreat from Kip's Bay, and 
the succeeding and successful engagement known to those who took 
part in it as the Harlem Heights "affair," or the battle of "Monday," the 
1 6th of September, the British forces settled down to await further 
re-inforcements, and the Americans to a course of laborious strengthen- 
ing of all parts of their extended fronts, and a ceaseless watchfulness 
against surprise, while the British vessels made several efforts to gain a 
command of the passage of the Hudson. 

Washington, upon whom the burden of these matters was increased 
by the necessities of organization of an effective army out of the rough 
and inexperienced material then afforded to him, was in constant antici- 
pation of an attempt on the part of the enemy to land forces at some of 
the points along the Hudson shore and force his ragged army from their 
place of security. On the 22d, he directed Heath to have men ready to 
march south in such an emergency. 

"There is a road," he wrote, "out of the Harlem flatlands that leads 
up to the hills and continues down the North river by Bloomingdale, De 
Lancy's, etc., which road I would have them march." 

Such was the poverty of the defending force, that for this, and for 
similar purposes on the north front, he was obliged to contemplate with- 
drawing the artillery guarding the river passage; "two or even four 
pieces of cannon might be spared from Fort Washington to the post over 
the bridge, but query if it might not do to run them from thence when 



Camp Life on the Heights. 67 

occasion shall seem to require it," and for this purpose Knox^ was 
directed to have four carriages ready. Such was the constant strain on 
the attention of the commanders at this period. 

From "Colonel Morris's at Harlem Heights," there issued after 
September i6th a daily round of general and special orders, evincing a 
tense watchfulness and concentration upon details which only such a 
man of affairs could prepare, and which afford many evidences of the 
life and its conditions upon which the troops then entered. 

Powder is to be issued to each man, equal to 15 or 18 rounds, "also 
lead and cartridge paper that they may make their own cartridges." 

"The men must account for every load not used in action." The 
need for them might ensue at any moment, day or night. 

The men were, like volunteers and militiamen the world over, 
independent and careless, regardless of the necessary routine life of sol- 
diery." "The General has, in riding through the camps, observed a 
shameful waste of provision, large pieces of beef not only thrown away, 
but left above ground to putrefy." The men are reminded that "while 
such practices continue, troops will be sickly." The General's eagle eye 
was on every detail. "Some of the camps nearest to Headquarters are 
very faulty in this respect." They are warned that if they do not show 
improvement they will be named in public. Camp orderlies are to be 
detailed to pick up rubbish and see that decent appearances are 
maintained. 

Harsh terms had to be used to compel attention. The General had 
observed the "shameful inattention in some of the camps to decency and 
cleanliness, in providing necessaries and picking up the offal and filth of 
the camp," and hotly reprimanded the offenders. 

The men in search of firewood would cut the timber forming the 
protective abattis. "Any soldier detected in so doing, without orders 
from the chief engineer, is to be sent to the Provost Guard and tried by 
a General Court Martial." 

The arms and munitions were to receive special care of officers, and 
to be protected, in default of proper buildings, by bell-tents or painted 
tents spread over them. The poor fellows could be allowed no easy 
times. "All the troops are every morning to be under arms a little before 
break of day and continue till sunrise," but the practice of sending the 
men out on duty without breakfast was not to be continued. 

Every day a working party of twelve hundred men, exclusive of 
those at Mount Washington, was paraded at 7 o'clock in the morning, 
and went to work on the entrenchments. 

The men were often without any shelter. Wood was scarce, and 
planks and boards were precious. They were to be used only for floor- 
ing, and not for framing up shelters. "The building up tents with 



68 Fort Washington, New York City. 

boards is a practice peculiar to this army, and in our present situation^ 
cannot be indulged without the greatest injury to the service. The 
boards brought into camp are for floors to the tents." 

Their least material interests were not neglected. The Tory 
farmers, the traders and the hucksters coming into camp, from West- 
chester, county, had taken advantage of the poor boys' needs and charged 
them exorbitantly for necessaries. So they were put under regula- 
tion — "Various frauds, impositions and abuses being every day com- 
mitted by traders and hucksters coming to this camp, the Quarter- 
Master General and his assistant are to regulate prices particularly 
garden stufT, venison, cheese and butter." A market was to be estab- 
lished — "For the future all persons bringing any of the above articles 
immediately for sale, are to carry them to the foot of the glacis of the 
old fort, where the market is constantly to be held." The location of 
this camp market is not difficult to identify, the "old" fort was Fort 
Washington, the first started on the heights, its glacis in military par- 
lance, was, in plain words, the slope extending from the fort, and the 
locality must of course have been as near the road as possible. 

It is clear from the topography that the slope on the southeast 
towards the post road must have been the site, the field which lay facing 
the Blue Bell Tavern, and on which Holyrood Church now stands, and 
near which there had also been erected some kind of rough barracks for 
that part of the garrison specially in charge of the Fort. 

The scene must have been an animated one, as the market was 
opened every morning at 8 o'clock, "to be allowed to continue till sun- 
set." Hither came the camp cooks and the soldiers off duty, tlie 
farmers, and their womenfolks with their wagons, the hucksters with 
their ponies' panniers laden with garden truck and farm produce, while 
the Quartermaster's orderlies stood guard to see fair prices charged and 
no "corners" permitted. 

"Should any person or persons be detected monopolizing or fore- 
stalling the market, they will be punished by a court martial and have 
all their goods seized for the sick of the hospital." 

On one occasion a shipment of produce was received from the north 
of sufficient importance to receive special orders, namely, "Two hun- 
dred bushels of onions brought from Lake George," of which one-half 
were to be sold at the market, and the balance presumably taken on army 
account. 

Notwithstanding every careful c'etail, many of the men became ill. 
Shelter was scanty, and the nights were cold. 

"The battalion is very sickly," wrote Colonel Ewing, reporting to 
the friends of his Maryland boys, " owing to our lying on the cold 
ground, without straw or plank, which is not to be nad, and medicine 



Camp Life ox tiii-: Heights. 69 

very scarce. Great numbers of the soldiers are badly off for clothing." 
Not much wonder that some took to "plundering and stealing." Wil- 
liam Hygens, an artillerist of Hamilton's company, was caught in the 
act, and was condemned to the old penalty, forty stripes save one. 

Even the surgeons were short of necessaries, and their mates were 
ordered to attend at the medicinal store between 8 and 10 a. m., to 
receive old linen to be torn up and converted into lint, and returned to 
the store. 

No wonder also that the hearts of some failed them, and desertions 
•occurred. Benjamin Allen and Joseph Chesher and some other privates 
in Malcolm's battalion were taken in an effort to steal awav, and were 
ordered twenty lashes apiece. 

Mutiny showed itself even among the junior commissioned officers, 
and two ensigns of \A'ebb's Massachusetts regiment were tried and con- 
victed of abusive language to their officers, and ordered to be publicly 
reprimanded for their conduct in front of their fellow officers. 

The disaffection spread to some of the men, and a private of Sar- 
.gent's force quartered at Kingsbridge nmtinied and then tried to desert. 
His case was an aggravated one and a court martial condemned him to 
death. The sentence was sent to Headquarters to be passed on. With 
a sorrowful heart but a stern sense of duty, the General approved the 
finding, and orders the culprit from Kingsbridge to Headquarters, to be 
hanged on the morrow at 1 1 o'clock. An example must be set. The 
troops off duty are to be paraded on the grand parade at the time, and so 
on October 2, at some point on the open grounds around the Maunsell 
House near 147th street, James McCormick ])aid the penalty for his 
offence against his country's liberties. 

Those who sacrificed their all for the cause had to contend not only 
with treachery but even with cowardice in some of their companions. 

At 10 o'clock on September 30 and again on October i, a court 
martial sat at "the white house near Headquarters" for the trial of Cap- 
tains Weisner and Scott for "cowardice and misbehavi(3ur" in tlie futile 
attack on Montressor's Island on the 23d of September. The court com- 
prised Colonel Magaw, Lieutenant-Colonel Cadwalader and Captain 
Graydon, names afterward prominent in our history, and finding Weisner 
guilty, ordered him to be cashiered and the sentence pu1)lished in the 
-camp. 

These were the small shadows on a broad picture of unselfish devo- 
tion to the cause on the part of the great body of patriots who through 
the fall of '76, lay camped along the heights of Harlem, waiting the issue 
nn much patience, in necessities, in distresses, in tumults, in labors and in 
■watchings. 



yo Fort Washington, New York City. 

V. 
THE TRAP THAT FAILED. 

The long^ course of comparative inaction on the part of the British 
forces, which succeeded their repulse on Morningside Heights, had 
given time for the strengthening of the American positions, but had also 
led to great anxiety on the part of their commanders as to the next 
move to be expected. The only apparent operation was the advance of a 
large part of the British floating force into the East river in the first 
week of October, and their landing on Montressor's Island, indicating 
an intention of an attack on flank by way of Harlem or Morrisania, the 
latter of which, with the Harlem river extending between them, was 
not much to be feared by the American commanders. Work was fever- 
ishly pushed on the completion of the river obstruction. If this work 
could be effectively completed, it was felt that the great danger of an 
incursion up the Hudson by the British fleet in force could be averted, 
and on this important position, and its command by the fortifications on 
the Mount, the attention of the whole force was largely concentrated. 

It appears somewhat inexplicable why the British authorities did 
not advance their naval force during the period of incomplete construc- 
tion of this resistance to their passage. 

The plans of William Howe appear, however, to have been laid 
rather with a view to the capture at one swoop of his watchful enemy and 
his whole force, than to any attempt merely to defeat him. While remem- 
bering the achievement of the retreat from Long Island, he probably 
conceived it quite impossible that Washington had the means to remove 
his force across the great Hudson estuary, and he preferred to wait until 
his land force should be re-inforced by the second division of German 
mercenaries and he should control the number of men sufficient to draw 
a line across Westchester county and bag the "Old Fox," with all his 
belongings, in his rocky lair and thus end the revolution at one blow. 
That he was also impelled by a desire to effect this result by his own land 
forces, rather than to allow the credit of the result to be gained by the 
Navy, is not to be wondered at in view of the jealousy often established 
between those forces, and the general subordination of the marine to the 
land forces in the British military system. 

The great fleet in the East river was largely composed of the trans- 
ports on which the Hessians were held almost virtual prisoners, until the 
time for the movement to be effected with least disturbance of the sus- 
picions of the patriots. 



The Trap that FAiLiiu. 71 

The latter were therefore occupied by reconnaissances on their 
southerly front, which extended down to the flat lands of Harlem and 
along^ which the sentries were so close at times as to exchange remarks. 
The line of these slight intrenchments extended nearly north and south 
along the little blufifs which then existed on the Harlem west bank from 
135th street to 155th street, most of which have been leveled by the city 
improvements except two or three blocks at the northern extremity. 

The next step was to occupy their attention in the direction in which 
no real movement was intended, and on October 9, the three frigates, 
'Thccnix," "Roebuck" and "Tartar," with their tenders, which had 
been moored off Bloomingdale hove anchor and headed full at the 
river obstructions. 

They were probably ordered forward on this particular date 
because their commanders had learned of the preparations for the sink- 
ing in the river within a few hours, of several more hulks. 

The sudden incursion took the American forces at the Point by sur- 
prise, and imagining the squadron to be steering for an attack in force 
upon them, the crews of their various little vessels, slipped moorings and 
ran before the oncoming war vessels, while the batteries of the Mount 
and that upon the point opened a furious fire upon the squadron. 
Favored by wind and tide and perhaps guided by treacherous informa- 
tion, the frigates passed around or through the obstruction so far as com- 
pleted, losing 3 officers and 6 men killed, and 18 wounded. Overhaul- 
in the American craft, their leading vessel captured a trading schooner 
partly laden with supplies, and a row-galley, and the squadron 
eventually came to anchor ofif Dobbs Ferry, evidently a pre-arranged 
point of rendezvous. 

From the point of view of present results, their advance had proved 
a success, but their demonstration of the inefficacy of the obstruction, 
and their presence in the rear of the American position, with, as it was 
supposed, troops on board, caused the very alarm for the safety of their 
line of retreat which the British Commander was apparently desirous 
of avoiding in advance of his troops' arrival in the rear of the 
Americans. 

Three days elapsed before Howe embarked his men in the flatboats 
which had done so much service before in placing his troops in unex- 
pected positions, and a friendly fog covered the movement of the expe- 
dition through the turbulent waters of Hell Gate. It was probably the 
same fog, however, which aided in the blunder of their landing on 
Throgs Neck, whence they were unable to emerge against Prescott's 
small force, and lost to the British scheme several invaluable days. 

Upon the news reaching Washington, he rode out to the neighbor- 
hood, and on the 14th, Charles Lee was placed in command of a large 



-^2 Fort \\'as{iixgtox, New York City. 

force composed of the "Flower of our Army," to divert the advance, the 
object of whicli had become apparent and was promptly discounted, as, 
at a council of war held on the i6th of October, it was decided to with- 
.draw the main forces, leaving a garrison onlv on the Heights. 

The withdrawal was well timed, but with the stores and Ijaggage 
handled b\' insufficient transport, and by inexperienced men. it was a 
laborious and slow process, and was so far incomplete that when, on the 
i8th, the ]>ritish, having transferred their forces to Pell's Point, at 
length got into motion on their proposed line of march, the delay 
.effected by the plucky resistance of the amphibious heroes of Glover's 
Massachusetts regiment, sufficed to enable Washington's force to escape 
the closing jaw of the trap. 

Flowe's main object had failed. Still advancing, however, he 
sought to complete the line of communication with the squadron and to 
turn his enemy inside of it, but at White l^lains he was again baffled, and 
.on November i, had the mortification of seeing his chief prize securely 
perched on the almost unassailable heights of North Castle. 

Meantime, on October 27, the day on which Howe moved west from 
New Rochelle, an attack in force was made by the division left on the 
Island of ^lanhattan upon the Heights, and there seems to be good rea- 
son to suppose this was a pre-arranged affair, designed and probably 
timed so as to distract the attention of the American forces and to enable 
Howe the better to pass around to the north and eft'ect the junction with 
the war vessels at Dobbs Ferry, which would com])lete his carefully 
planned operations. 

As such, it of course failed in its object, Ijut as a determined com- 
bined military and naval assault it took rank with the most serious 
.engagements of the war. 

It is remarkable that this operation, which really deserves to rank 
as a battle, having had some three thousand men engaged on either side, 
and occupying a whole day, has received so little attention, probably on 
account of the overshadowing importance of the engagement of the next 
morning in \\'hite Plains, and of the culminating event so soon suc- 
ceeding il. 

This "action," as Nathaniel Greene so modestly describes it, may 
be known, therefore, as the engagement of the 27th of October, 1776. 

In the t|uiet of the early Sunday morning the sentries on the defen- 
sive earthworks at the southerly end of Washington Heights, perceived 
two war-vessels moving boldly up the Hudson, and word of their advent 
was hastily passed Uj the post commander, .Robert Magaw, probably at 
the PIead(iuarters house, but recently vacated by the commander-in-chief. 
At the same time, in the tlatlands below the "Point of Rocks" the British 
forces, then under the command of Lieutenant-General the Right Hon- 



Till': Trai' iirAi- l'\\ii.i:n. 75 

ourahle the Earl IVrcv, could be descried movin.t;- forward to an attack. 
No time was to he lost, and the entire available forces were hurried into 
the southern lines of defense. 'Fhe fris^ates came deliberately to anchor 
abreast of the first line of earthworks, and coollv proceeded to render it 
imtenable by a llank tire. Their position was apj^roximatelv abreast of 
147th street, at which point a small battery formed a portion of this first 
line of intrenchmcnt, which as has been described, extended across in 3 
zig-zag fashion to the post-road, where defenses such as jiits and barri- 
cades of felled timbers olistrncted the steep ascent. 

The one little trace which at this time remains, on the vacant lot on' 
the east side of llroadway just north of 147th street, is probablv a por- 
tion of the ramparts of the very battery here referred to. 

Disposing his men to ])resent the best front towards the land attack 
along the edge of the bluffs of Colonial Park to the Point of Rocks, 
A-Iagaw effected there so warm a reply to the P.ritish field battery, that 
the assault was halted, and a musketry fire l)egan which lasted through 
the day. Meantime, the energetic Colonel had decided to drag dowrr 
from P\)rt Washington one of the heavy eighteeu-pounder guns 
installed there, and succeeded in getting it into i)lace while the battery 
across river at l'V)rt Lee was rather ineffectively firing at the frigates. 

Just as the men on the jersey side gave up their efforts, Magaw got 
the 1 8- pounder into position and opened at short range on the vessels, 
when the Jersey artillerymen, seeing what had been done, promptly 
commenced to transfer two of their own heav_\- guns southwards 
towards Weehawken for the purpose vi shortening their range 

Nathaniel Greene, in general command of the district, whose head- 
quarters were at Fort Lee. came across, probably to the landing place 
at Jeffrey's Poim, and marie his way to the scene of action, where, how- 
ever, finding that "Colonel Magaw had so happily disposed and 
arranged his men " as to put the British "out of conceit" with theif 
original intentions, he remained a spectator, leaving tlu- conduct of the 
day's operations in Magaw 's hands. 

The American artillerymen were enthusiastic at their op])ortunity. 
The frigates having anchored, and the tide still miming up. thev could 
not weigh, and therefore formed a steady mark for the men behind the 
gun who, ramming the eighteeu-pounder with double shot, made a mark 
of the vessel highest up river and soon reduced her almost to a wreck. 

"The confusion and distress that appeared on board the ship 
exceeds all description." She got out her boats, and with them her crew 
endeavored to wear her round, while from both shores a hail of well 
directed shot pierced her hull and tore her upper works. "Without 
doubt she lost a great number of men." and also without doubt she 
would have been lost to the P.ritish navy but for the timely and plucky 



74 



Fort Washington, New York City. 



assistance of the open barges of her consort, which under the galling 
iire took her in tow, and all four pulling together they got sufificient 
way on her to work her out of range. 

Meanwhile, "a smart fire with field pieces and mortars" went on 
upon the land side without intermission, but the repulse of the frigates 
discouraged any further attempt and the attacking force was withdrawn 
as evening came on. 

Greene felt so secure of results that he left the scene at 3 o'clock, 
remarking in his report that "Our artillery behaved incomparably well. 
Colonel Magaw is charmed with their conduct in firing at the ship and 
in the field." 

The loss of life on land was not great, "several of the enemy were 
killed, two or three our people got and brought ofif the field, and sev- 
eral more were left there," the accoutrements of one being the next day 
presented to a soldier who had distinguished himself by Lieutenant- 
Colonel Cadwalader. 

On the American side but one man was killed, "by a shell that fell 
upon his head," and Major Coburn was wounded. 



The Patriots' Quarters. 75 

VI. 

THE PATRIOTS' QUARTERS. 

On the British map of the north part of New York Island are 
•shown at different points along the line of the post-road from 
McGowan's Pass to the Blue Bell, certain structures marked " Barracks 
built by the Americans for their winter quarters and which they burnt 
upon the movement of the King's army to Frog's Point." 

These are in several instances shown in enclosures or cultivated 
spaces, and must thus have included the farmhouses of the period. Con- 
fining our attention to those on the heights, the most southerly one is upon 
an eminence on the Hudson side probably about the line of 140th street; 
two between the first and second entrenchments, one being about 147th 
street near the Maunsell house and another farm near 153d street and 
Amsterdam avenue, also a farmhouse at i6oth street on the St. 
Nicholas avenue, then a building on the position of that afterwards 
known as the Cross Keys Tavern at i6ist street. 

North of these are shown six or eight buildings situated along the 
highroad north of about i68th street, the first close to the west side of 
the road, the next on the rocks east at about I72d street, two others right 
and left of the highway at 176th street, that on the west being probably 
the then house of Blazius Moore, now inhabited by Mr. Robert B. 
Perkins, and most northerly of all, a group of several between Fort 
Washington and the road, on ground apparently the open farm land 
behind Holyrood Church. 

That there were others on the mainland built or occupied for the use 
of the troops in the forts, there is evidence from American references to 
them. 

The erection of these barracks formed part, and no small part of 
the work of those troops quartered during the summer upon the Island, 
and they must have been quite extensive structures, since it was in the 
general council on September 8 contemplated "that eight thousand men 
would be kept" for the defense of Mount Washington and its dependen- 
cies," and with the necessary stores, a large amount of cover must have 
been provided. 

Those were not days of ready sawn lumber and wire nails, and the 
construction involved not merely the erection, but the hewing and saw- 
ing of the necessary timber and the forging of the nails and spikes. At 
the time of the removal of the troops to Westchester county, Greene 
wrote to Washington on October 24 : 



^6 Fort Washington, New York City. 

"Our people have had extreme hard duty. The common guards,, 
common fati.quc, and the extraordinary guards and extraordinary 
fatigue for the removal of the stores and forwarding the provisions has- 
kept every man on duty." These lahors consisted of the removal that 
month of the stores and provisions gathered during the summer on the 
Island and their conveyance by way of the King's Bridge to Washing- 
ton's army in Westchester, and with the shortage of horse-flesh and 
wagons must have been a severe duty. 

It was that anxious period when the future plans of the British 
were causing the greatest troubles of the patriot officers, after Hale's- 
life had been sacrificed to their need for information, and when fore- 
bodings of the possible fate of Fort Washington were occupying the- 
minds of the Commander and his trusted helpers. 

"General Mifflin thinks it not advisable to pull the barracks down- 
yet," continues Greene's letter of October 24 — "he has hopes of our 
army returning to that ground for winter quarters." 

Lee had before ridiculed Mifflin's ideas as to this possibility, and: 
Greene added his fears that "if the enemy should throw in a thousand 
or fifteen hundred men" at Kingsbridge, they could cut off our com- 
munication efifectually, and as the state of the barracks are they would 
find exceeding good cover for the men. But if we were to take the- 
barracks down (even if the boards were not removed, it would in a 
great measure deprive them of that advantage." 

He began to take preliminary precautions. 

"I have directed all the wagons to be employed in i)icking" u]) the- 
scattered boards about the encami)ments." These were the boards that 
had formed the floors of the tents. "I believe, from what I saw yester- 
day in riding over the ground, they will amount to many thousands. As. 
soon as we have got these together, I puri)ose to begin upon the- 
barracks." 

To Mifflin he wrote on the 28th of October: 

"The jjcople have been employed in getting the boards together at 
Fort Wasliington and the ferry. Some have been brought from Kings- 
bridge. To-day I sent up to Colonel Lasher (in command at Fort 
Independence on Tetards hill ) to know what assistance he could give- 
toward taking down the barracks and bringing off the boards, and had 
for answer that he had orders to burn the barracks, quit the post and 
join the army by way of the North river at the White Plains." 

lie feared the effect of this would be to oblige Magaw to draw his- 
forces into the garrison, "as the enemy will have a passage open upon his 
back," which is just what eventually had to be done, the step allowing, 
of the Hessians later establishing themselves and repairing the bridge. 



The Patriots' Ouartrrs. "jy 

"If the barracks are not burnt in tlic niornin^- and the enemy don't 
■press too hard upon us, we will try to get away some of the boards." 
While he had been writing-, the barracks were reduced to ashes, and 
three days later the tardy enemy appeared on the scene to find "every- 
thing of value gotten away and the bridges cut down," l)oth the King's 
and Dyckman's. 

The inferences gathered from the foregoing letters show that the 
statement on the English engineer's map is an error, TJie barracks 
burnt were only those around Fort Independence and those on the Island 
were not destroyed but were in use by the American forces up to the 
time of the assault, and while some of them were possibly fired in that 
engagement, others proved the winter shelter for the alien force in gar- 
rison at the Fort, of which very advantage Greene had been so properly 
desirous of depriving them. 

What became of them later can only be matter of conjecture. They 
were evidently of perishable materials, and it is only a probability that 
their foundations may have been of boulders. If so, some of the remains 
at the east of Broadway at i68th street may have been a part, but in the 
'Other situations a diligent search has failed to locate any traces of the 
structures which for many a month sheltered the poor boys who shivered 
the chill autumn nights away upon these heights, upon which so much 
•of their hard duties and so many of tlicir liigh hopes were expended. 



78 Fort Washington, New York City. 

VII. 
WILLIAM DEMONT, TRAITOR. 

Turning in his tracks at White Plains, WilHam Howe found him- 
self facing a new situation. His old enemy had escaped with nearly all 
his forces, and his plan of operation had failed of its object, with the 
exception that he now enclosed with his long extended lines the fast- 
nesses which he had so long confronted without venturing to attack 
their unknown defenses. 

Just how many had been left behind to hold the position was a 
doubtful element in the situation ; whether enough to make an attack 
upon it a desperate and bloody affair, or a handful easily overcome. 
News probably reached him at this juncture of the indefinite result of 
Earl Percy's action of October 27, and of the crippling of two of his 
brother's fine frigates. 

Some use had to be made of the hired troops, and they were therefore 
sent south to demonstrate against the north end of the Island. 

Anticipating the likelihood of such a move, the officer in command 
of Fort Independence, Colonel Lasher, had been ordered to burn his 
barracks and abandon his post and so doing, and at the same time 
destroying the bridge over the creek, he had withdrawn, leaving 
Magaw's little garrison, without outer defenses, to hold those on the 
Island. 

Forts known by the numbers i to 8 around the hills from River- 
dale to Fordham were deserted, and the Hessian brigade under Lieu- 
tenant-General the Baron Wilhelm von Knyphausen marched into 
Kingsbridge. 

Greene wrote anxiously to Washington to know if any attempt 
should be made in this new situation to hold the Inwood marsh and 
farm lands against so numerous a foe, as if so the garrison must be 
increased, and received reply leaving the matter to his own discretion, 
reminding him that the intention of the council of war (of October 16 ) 
had been to garrison the works, preserving the lower lines only as long 
as they could be maintained, and that the main object then was and 
still continued to be the retention of communication across the North 
river and "the enemy prevented from having a passage up and down." 
For such a purpose the risk run by the garrison in its then position,. 
was not too great, and in their unknown fastness there was not a man 



William Demont, Traitor. 79 

but considered they could stave off any attack, as had been done on 
October 27, at any rate long enough to enable the force to be withdrawn, 
in case of defeat, by boat from Jeffrey's Hook under the guns of Fort 
Lee. But these reckonings did not take into account the probability of 
treachery, and that by its means the enemy might become informed of 
the exact weaknesses of the defense and the means of blocking their 
retreat. 

Previous deserters there had been, but they were men of the ranks, 
and their accounts of what they had seen probably magnified the impor- 
tance and extent of the defences. 

There was one young man, however, in whose mind some rankling 
resentment or doubt had operated to induce him to waver from the 
cause he had well served, in whose power it was to obtain possession of 
the actual plans of the fortifications, and with whom therefore treachery 
became at once an alarming and dire blow to the American cause. 

William Demont was a young ensign in Magaw's own regiment, 
who "being intelligent in points of duty," had been advanced to act as 
adjutant, a position which gave him charge of the documents of his 
commander. While he was a man of rather an ill-looking, coarse 
appearance, he had evidently gained the confidence of the authorities, 
as his appointment was due to the Pennsylvania Council of Safety. 

Perhaps the continued seeming successes of the British had caused 
him to despair of the result "of his country's cause, or perchance the 
absence of the guiding spirit of the revolution took the spirit out of him. 
But whatever the influencing motives in his mind which decided him to 
cast in his lot with the King he might well have done so without other 
reflection on his name than that of a deserter from a good cause to a 
poor one. 

But Demont deliberately chose to make favor for himself and to 
injure his old-time companions by procuring and taking with him in his 
desertion the papers which would disclose the defense of the Heights 
and place his comrades at the mercy of an assaulting force. 

The black treason of Arnold, which was foiled by discovery, was 
not so disastrous in its results as that of this youthful scoundrel, and 
no other traitor — and there were many — inflicted a more direct and 
deliberate injury upon his own personal associates than did Demont. 

The estimate of the man's character formed by the British was 
not undiscriminating, as they afterwards employed him as a gatherer 
of news, a hirer of spies, and rewarded him only by the post of prison 
commissary in charge of the confinement of his own countrymen. His 
own hand has told us of the eventual result. Neglected, poor, broken 
and bitter, an exile in the great British capital, he resents the treatment 



8o FoKT Wasiiixgtox, Xkw Yokk C\'i'y. 

he has received, and quoting a better man. exclaims, "Had I have served 
my God as I have done my King, he would not thus have forsaken me." '' 

In the appropriate darkness of the night of Saturday, November 
2(1, 1776, the young adjutant made his way southward, and evading the 
sentries, made his way down to the Harlem plain and entered the 
lines of the forces of Lieutenant-General the Earl Percy, where he 
handed over to that commander information and sketches of the 
.defenses of the Mount so opportunely desirable for the plans of the 
general and so peculiarly capable of elifecting the undoing of the 
.defenders of the Heights. 

We may well presume that little time was lost by Percv in remitting 
to his commander the important information he had gained on the 
details of the position destined soon to be attacked, and, allowing a suffi- 
,cient time for riders to reach the neighborhood of White Plains, we can 
assume that some time between the 4th and 6th of Xovember, the infor- 
mation had reached Plowe. 

His next movement had, however, already been decided. With no 
means of compelling his opponent to risk a general engagement, and 
with autumn advancing, the question of winter quarters for his large 
forces became urgent, and with Fort Washington held bv his enemy he 
could by no means settle down for the winter in Xew York. Fort 
Washington must be taken at all costs. The camp was struck on the 
5th, and the headquarters moved to Pobbs Ferry, whence after 
,maneuvres evidently intended to confuse Washington and his ofificers 
as to their true intentions, and to gain time for a withdrawal of the trans- 

*The extent of Demont's treason might never have been known il he himself had not put 
it on paper, in the following letter written to the Rev. Dr. Peters: 

Revd. Sir: Permit me to Trouble you with a Short recital of my Services in America which I 
Presume may be Deemd among the Most Singular of any that will go to Upper Canada. On the 2d 
of Novr. 1776, I Sacrificed all I was Worth in the World to the Service of nw King & Country and 
Joined the then Lord Percy; brought in with (me) the Plans of Fort Washington' by which plans 
that Portress was taken by his Majestys Troops the 16 instant. Together with 2.700 Prisoners and 
Stores & Ammunition to the amount of i.Soo Pound, at the same time I mav with Justice Affirm 
from my Knowledge of the Works 1 saved the Lives of Many of his Majestys Subjects — these sir 
are facts well known to every General Officer which was there — and I may with Truth Declare 
frorn that time I Studied the Interest of my Country and Neglected my own — or in the Language 
of Cardinal Woulsey had I have served my God as I have done my King he would not Thus have 
Forsaken Me. 

The following is a just accotmt due me from Government which I have never been able to 
bring forward for Want of Sir William Erskine who once, when in Town Assured Me he'd Look 
into it but have never done it, otherways I should not now have been in Debt. 

This, Sir, though it may not be in your Power to Get me, may Justify mv being so much in 
Debt, & in E.Kpectation of this Acct being Paid together with another Devidend from the Express 
words of the Act, where it Says all under Ten Thousand pound Should be Paid without Deduction, 
I having received only £'ioo out of £467 which I Justified before the Commissioners. 

Due for Baw, Batt & Forrage £i 10 7 o 

For Engaging Guides, Getting intelligence, etc 45 g7 

For doing duty as Commissary of Prisoners at Philadelphia, 

Pajing Clerks, Stationary, etc 26 ij 8 

£182 10 5 
The last Two Articles was cash Paid out of my Pocket which was Promised to be Refunded 
•by Sirs Wm. Howe and Erskine. 

I most Humbly Beg Pardon for the Length of this Letter & Shall Conclude without making 
some Masonac Remarks as at first intended. And Remain, Revd. Sir, with Dutiful Respect, 

Your most Obedient and Most Humble Servt. 
Wll.i-l.\M Demoxt. 
^London, January i6th. 1792. 



William Demont, Traitor. 8i 

ports from Pell's Point, the British forces took a combined direction 
southward and concentrated on the 2th upon the hills of Fordhani, 
below which the Hessian division was already encamped and was men- 
acing- the American position on its northern side. 

The abandoned American works on the hills of Westchester known 
as Forts Nos. i to 8, including the wrecked Fort Independence, were 
promptly occupied by the combined forces, and that known as No. 8 
was especially selected, from its commanding situation directly opposite 
Laurel Hill, for extension and armament by the British, and for the 
succeeding three days the troops were busy in emplacing guns at the 
spot. 

Meanwhile on the flat land about the creek below, the mercenary 
force had not been idle, and advancing their skirmishers across the river 
they had seized on the height now known as Marble Hill on which they 
raised a redoubt named after the Brunswick Crown Prince, Charles 
Frederick, brother-in-law of King George of England. They' had also 
pushed forward small entrenchments towards the foot of Inwood Hill, 
behind the woods of which the sharpshooters of the Americans were 
lurking. 

On the 8th and gth of November some bold attacks worthy of a 
description here were made by men of the Pennsylvania regiments on 
the advanced parties of the Hessians, and against considerable odds 
they had driven the latter back on their supports. 

^ Such little efforts, however, were of small import in view of the 
military dispositions of the trained forces now closing in around the 
Heights. 



82 Fort Washington, New York City, 

VIII. 
THE OPERATIONS AROUND INWOOD. 

The abandonment of the Forts known as Nos. i to 8 on the West- 
chester side of the Harlem, and the appearance of the Hessian forces on 
the scene, were followed by the concentration of Magaw's men upon the 
hills of the Island, with orders to abandon the flat grounds of Inwood, 
the farms of Dyckman, Nagle and Post, and to confine their efforts to 
"stop the road between the mountains." 

By turning all energies into strengthening a small circuit of 
defenses around the steep hillsides contiguous to the Fort, it would prob- 
ably have been possible to hold the enemy at bay even after they should 
have possessed themselves of the flat lands at the north and even of part 
of the Heights on the south. 

This general decision to hold the lines of intrenchments only as 
long as they could well be held, must be borne in mind in considering 
the course of events of the culminating occasion. 

The interest of the situation was at this time largely at the north 
side then openly threatened by the Hessian army. Magaw reported 
on 7th of November: "We have just discovered that the enemy have 
brought down about 40 sail to Morrisania Point, ten of which are ships." 
The transports and fleet from Pell's Point and Tlirogs Neck were return- 
ing to the East river. "By this I am assured they are retreating and 
intend to pay us a visit." 

"This forenoon we discovered several English officers on the plains 
on this side Kingsbridge," probably Hessian officers taking observations 
with a view to an attack which Knyphausen planned to make with his 
force in advance of the concentration of the British army. 

The recent opening of the first surface railroad to the village of 
Inwood, rendering access available to that picturesque locality, renders it 
appropriate to record at this time some of the revolutionary occurrences 
which took place there at this juncture. 

The majority of visitors to these heights are familipr with the view 
from resorts around Fort George, below which hill the low grounds 
to Kingsbridge are in plain sight, with the extension of the Speedway 
crossing the foot of the mount and extending to the Hudson at the 
point which in Colonial times was known as "Tubby Hook." The swell- 
ing sides of Inwood Hill rise, still covered with fine trees, through which 
glimpses of terraced gardens are seen, lining the steep ascent of the 
Bolton Road, the steeple of St. Mary's appropriately crowning the 
extreme summit. The Palisades, in the purple shades of the afternoon,. 



The Operations Around Inwood. 85 

form a background of surpassing beauty, and the shining sweep of water 
visible on either hand is continued by the sinuous bends of the Harlem, 
so intimate to New Yorkers as Spuyten Duyvil creek. 

A mere description of the features of interest with which this^ 
extremity of the island abounds would fill many articles, and must here 
be confined to those which appeared at the period with which our his- 
tory has been so far dealing. 

The post-road descending from the heights between Laurel Hill 
and Mount Washington at that time curved to the east on reaching the 
level lands and wound along the northern side of Sherman's creek, now 
disfigured by City improvements into a rigidly outlined dock, until it 
neared the bank of the Harlem, along which it proceeded northward, 
passing through the farms of Nagle and Dyckman, to the Bridge. 

As has been previously stated, just at the head of Sherman creek, on 
a little mound, a small battery had been erected by the American forces 
to command the passage of the road, and on the summit of Inwood Hill, 
in what is now the property of Mr. James McCreery, was a little fort 
called after the local name of that mound the "Cockhill." 

Below, in the valley on the bank of the Harlem, stood the farm- 
house of John Post, locally known as the Century House, on the line of 
2 1 2th street, an interesting building long preserved, only to fall a victim 
to fire in the summer of 1901. 

Beyond, on Marble Hill, the Hessians were working like beavers 
on the ramparts of their fortifications. Pushing forward daily, they 
opened advanced breastworks on the rising ground, on which the house 
and estate of the Isham family has long since been situated, thus estab- 
lishing themselves at a point somewhat on the flank of the Cockhill fort. 

Their operations were being closely observed by the American out- 
posts in the wooded hillsides, where active members could not for long 
forbear striking a blow at these newly arrived and dreaded opponents, 
and on November 8th and the following day efforts were made to dis- 
lodge the force which evidenced the mettle of the rank and file of 
Magaw's command. 

"The scene," says an eye-witness, "lay on an eminence between the 
termination of Mount Washington and Kingsbridge, under the full 
command of a height in possession of our Hessian enemy." 

On this spot a large rock existed, forming a sort of natural breast- 
work, behind which their musketeers were posted. Two of the Pennsyl- 
vanians had the hardihood to make their way up this hill in full view of 
the enemy in order to get a fair shot at the men behind the rock ; their 
appearance rendering them a target for musketry and for the missiles of 
a field piece on Marble Hill. More men advanced to support them, and 
bv their accurate shooting drove the Hessians to cover, which brought 



..'84 Fort Washington, New York City. 

out four companies of their main body to their relief. The Httle force 
of twenty Americans, though without any officers to direct them, then 
formed into three parties and with natural ability, two of these 
maneuvred round the rear of the rock and threatened the advancing" 
troops, while the others rushed the position, drove out the guard, 
together with their wounded, and took their position and belongings. 
Uniting together, and indulging in a defiant cheer for the Congress, the 
little party, reinforced by a few stragglers from the hillsides, then under- 
took to defend their position against twenty times their number of 
opponents, who, advancing along the post-road, took shelter in an 
orchard, but were there stalled till nightfall, by the accurate fire of the 
American riflemen, who withdrew only under cover of darkness. 

The success of this unorganized skirmish over the long dreaded 
enemy encouraged the defending forces to attempt a more serious brush 
with their opponents, who had repossessed themselves of the ground, 
and the following morning an organized assault was made under Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Penrose of the Fifth Pennsylvania, and Major Hubley, 
whose little force rushed the position in so unexpected a manner as not 
only to carry the outworks but to dislodge the Flessian force from the 
dwelling house and barn of the farm hard by, notwithstanding an inces- 
sant but ill-directed fire from the enemy, covered by a small redoubt they 
had thrown up in the orchard and by the artillery of Fort Prince Charles. 

About ten of the Hessians were killed and others wounded, and the 
American force, after firing the barn and the shelter huts of their oppo- 
nents, remained in possession of the groimd for the time being. These 
affairs, small in extent, had a distinctly disturbing effect on the arrange- 
ments then pending. The German general decided to make an attack in 
force without waiting further for the British, and on the following- 
Monday, November 11, before daybreak, turned out his whole division 
at Kingsbridge with this intention. But it began to rain so heavily that 
the attempt had to be delayed until the day was so advanced that the 
attack would have been made with the disadvantage of their watchful 
opponents' observation. The troops were withdrawn and before another 
•order was issued the arrival of the British general altered the situation 
and the German troops were held back for the combined operation which 
Howe contemplated. 



.-.lLil..U.-li_ i mJJ.lL . 



Till-: Swing of the Pendulum. 85., 

IX. 
THE SWING OF THE PENDULUM. 

The arrani^onients for the assault on Fort Washington were 
designed and effected by Sir \\'illiam Howe in a masterly manner. It 
is of course more than probable that he was decided in the methods, and 
was particularly guided in the timing of his attacks, by the detailed 
information gained from Demont, and was enabled to make an effect- 
ively fatal blow on the weakest point in the position and also to cut oft' 
the only means of retreat of the garrison. 

His plan comprised a threefold attack. One assault was from the 
south on the lines several times previously attempted, but this time 
coincident with an attack l)y the mercenary troops on the more difficult 
ground at the north. As these two were in motion, he planned a third 
attempt with his finest troops of guards and light infantry on the pre- 
cipitous hillside of Laurel Hill, the eastern side of the American posi- 
tion, under cover of the fire of those guns which he had recently mounted 
on the Fordham Hill at Fort "Number Eight," and in order to distract 
the attention of the resistance at this point he organized a fourth force,, 
composed of hardy Highlanders under his command, who were to 
attempt a landing along the Harlem shore where no American fortifica- 
tions had been constructed. It was this point of weakness which the 
traitor's information had aft'orded him, yet even with this knowledge a 
landing in face of the abrupt and wooded rocky height was likely to 
prove a desperate affair, and the dangerous duty was therefore com- 
mitted to one of the best bodies of tried veterans in his army. 

Its eventual success, although at a bloody price, almost unexpectedly 
crumpled up the American defense at the south, and proved the chief 
source of the entire success of the day's operations. 

The other point in which Demont's plans aided the arrangements^ 
was in showing that it was possible for the northern attacking force to 
work their way around on the Hudson shore, if covered by a war vessel 
in that river, and if enabled to pass the fortification now knowm as Fort 
Tryon, that they could creep in l^etween the main fort and the water 
side. For this purpose the little frigate "Pearl," then lying near 
S])uyten Dttyvil guarding two vessels with provisions for the Hessian 
army, was selected to act. 

All preparations being made, on the afternoon of November 15,. 
1776, a boat put out from the Fordham water side bearing a flag of 
truce, under which an officer bore the usual formal demand upon the 
commandant for surrender of the post, coupled with the reminder that 



86 Fort Washington, New York City. 

a refusal would mean, as was then the custom of warfare, the extermi- 
nation of the garrison in case of its capture. 

This letter was delivered about i p. m. to Lieutenant-Colonel 
Michael Swope, commander of a detachment of Pennsylvania volun- 
teers, a tried and trusted officer, who on Demont's desertion had been 
hastily appointed acting adjutant to the defending forces. By him con- 
veyed to Robert Magaw, that officer lost no time in penning his answer, 
couched in a simplicity and nobility of language which reflects credit on 
his noble character. 

"If I rightly understand," he wrote to Colonel Patterson, the 
courtly one-time interviewer of Washington, and adjutant of the army 
of attack, "the purport of your message from General Howe communi- 
cated to Colonel Swope, this post is to be immediately surrendered or 
the garrison put to the sword." 

The inhumanity of the proposition impressed him to awake the 
generosity of his foe, in the possible eventuality of his defeat. "1 rather 
think it a mistake, than a settled resolution in General Howe, to act a 
part so unworthy of himself and the British Nation." The threat, how- 
ever, should be shown to be without effect. "Give me leave," he con- 
cluded, in a burst of hopeful patriotism, "to assure his Excellency that, 
actuated by the most glorious cause that mankind ever fought in, I am 
determined to defend this post to the very last extremity." 

These lofty sentiments distinguish a man who in his devotion to 
duty ranks second to none in the struggle for liberty, and who deserves 
from his country a memorial hitherto denied even to his resting place, 
and on which, when it shall be erected, it may be hoped his own glowing 
words will fittingly be inscribed. 

The original of this document was afterward found among his 
papers in Carlisle, and having fallen into the hands of an antiquarian, 
has, it is hoped, been preserved. 

A brief consultation was held. The evident intention of an immi- 
nent attack led the small council of line officers in the fort to the conclu- 
sion that while their duty was plain, their generals should be made aware 
of the situation. A copy was promptly placed in the hands of an aide, 
Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Bull, who had the same evening arrived 
with a reinforcement of men of Montgomery's regiment which was 
then under his command, and he was ordered to convey it to Washing- 
ton, who had come over from North Castle to Fort Constitution to con- 
sult with Greene and others on the question of maintaining the fortress. 

Unfortunately for the eventual result, Washington had that very 
afternoon ridden out to Hackensack village, and on Bull's arrival, the 
letter had to be sent after him. The contents being communicated to 
Nathaniel Greene and Israel Putnam, those generals thought the situa- 



The Swing of the Pendulum. 87 

tion crucial enough to demand their prompt attention, and taking boat 
they made their way to the Fort, and interviewed the commandant and 
his associates, all of whom enthusiastically expressed their willingness 
to dispute the threatened assault, and reported their men in excellent 
spirits and determination. 

Meanwhile, the messenger rode hot-foot to Hackensack, where the 
news was received by Washington, who rode in the gloom of night to 
the margin of the Palisades and descending to the water's edge took 
boat for the Fort. The point of debarkation was probably just at the 
foot of the gorge in which the Fort Lee Hotel now stands, opposite 158th 
street. As his boat approached the middle of the stream, it was met by 
another bearing the two general officers returning from the fort with a 
hopeful report, and the two little craft hung together in mid-stream, 
their anxious occupants engaged in low-toned consultation. Washing- 
ton was urging his view of the danger of the garrison against the 
opinion of the others that it could hold its own, at least for several days. 
The broad bosom of the river, the scene of this fateful conference, 
was full of actions of deep import on this eventful night. The shadows 
of the wet November day had deepened as night came on, and now hung 
low over the sentries on Jeffrey's Hook, and hiding the naked spars of 
the sunken hulks around which the tide swayed and surged, covered 
also the movements of a fleet of the sinister flatboats which, crowded to 
the gunwales with the pick of the redcoat army, were floating from 
Bloomingdale in silent security past the point. 

In the dead of the night the bold maneuvre of floating these thirty 
boats up river past the batteries at Jeffrey's Hook, was being silently 
and successfully carried out, and Captains Molloy and Wilkinson of 
the Royal Navy who directed the adventurous expedition had the satis- 
faction of rounding the Inwood hill, and landing their passengers, con- 
sisting of two battalions of light infantry and two of guards, in safety 
on the shore below Valentine's hill, where they retired under the shelter 
of the thick forest growth which covered the hillsides, and awaited the 
advent of the day of action. 

A glimpse of this bold flotilla, a single shot from a sentry's rifle, 
would have alarmed the generals, and have made evident the intention 
of an attack by means of the boats which had always been utilized for 
such purposes, ferrying troops over the Harlem, on the defensive pro- 
tection of which so much dependence had been placed. 

And how closely the two occurrences were to a conjunction that 
might have ended in the capture of the leading generals of the Ameri- 
can forces at one swoop, may be gathered from the fact that the mid- 
stream meeting was after midnight, and that the troops were landed at 



88 Fort Washington, New York City. 

Fordhain, and the boats were back again at work at Spuyten Duyvil 
before 5 a. m. 

The result of the meeting of the generals was to still the doubts of 
the commander-in-chief for the present, and accepting his subordinates' 
view of the situation, he returned with them to the Jersey shore, to- 
spend, we may be sure, an anxious and probably sleepless night. 

The morning had advanced but a few hours before he was again 
afloat, with Greene, Putnam and Mercer, on their way to the Island to 
look at the situation and "determine what was best to be done." But 
for once Washington was too late, and " just at the instant we stepped 
on board the boat, the enemy made their appearance on the hill" on the 
south, while the furious cannonade increased from the east. 

Their oarsmen rowing them briskly across the river, the Generals 
landed, probably directly opposite at 158th street, where a little stream 
descended from the hillside through what is now Audubon Park, and 
then ascending the hill, they made straight for headquarters, the Morris 
house, still evidently under the impression that the major attack must 
come from the south, in which direction Lord Percy's forces, having 
driven in the guards on the outposts in the Harlem plain, was by this 
time deploying to bring their field pieces into action, and the Hessian 
brigade forming its left was forcing its way down through the wooded; 
hillside of Claremont above Manhattanville. 



Tup: Composition of the ARMiEb. 89 



X. 

THE COMPOSITION OF THE ARMIES OF ASSAULT AND 

DEFENSE. 

It will be appropriate at this ])oint to consider the composition and 
dis])osition of the British and German army at the assault, and of the 
forces opposed to each, the details of which, though somewhat dull in 
the reading, should be of particular interest in view of the many actual 
reminders of these regiments in the shape of the personal relics which 
have been found on the Heights. 

The center of the British attack, was of course at Fordham, and the 
general orders of General Howe were issued up to the morning of the 
attack from De Lancey's mill on the Bronx, two miles in the rear. 

The Fort afterward known as No. 8, on the Morris Heights, in 
which had been mounted aliout sixteen guns, thus became the center of 
the movement. 

The forces on this side were all British, comprising about 3600 
men. and were divided in two divisions, right and left, their mode of 
operation in each being the despatch of an assaulting force across the 
Harlem river, to be followed by a support, with a third force held in 
reserve. The right, which occupied the Fort, and of which the 
advanced part was concealed in the dense woods which then extended to 
the river's bank, some distance away to the north, was under the com- 
mand of Lieutcnant-General the Earl of Cornwallis, under whom was 
Brigadier-General Alathews, who was designated to lead the attack on 
Laurel Hill in person. The forces under his command were three bat- 
talions of tlie Light Infantry, the crac!; foot regiment which had done 
sucli good service on previous occasions, three battalions of the Grenadier 
Guards, the premier fighting force of the British army, and the Thirty- 
third foot regiment, held in reserve around the fort. Of the above, two 
battalions of the Light Infantry who were embarked at such a distance 
from Laurel Hill as to be out of effective range of the American guns, 
first crossed the stream, and were followed and supported by two bat- 
talions of the Guards, the other battalions of each being held as the 
second line of support. 

The left division, which operated from wdiat is now a point some- 
what south of Highbridge, was in command of Brigadier-General Leslie, 
and was composed of two battalions of the Forty-second Royal High- 
land Regiment who, under Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Thomas Stirling, 
made the crossing of the river and the attack which turned the rear of 
the American southern forces. Their support was the Fifth Regiment, 



90 Fort Washington, New York City. 

which apparently remained on the Westchester side, and their reserve 
consisted of the Forty-ninth Regiment, with about sixteen field pieces 
operating at some point on the hillside. 

The southern force, operating from the direction of Harlem, was 
the British left wing, and was under the command of Lieutenant- 
General the Right Honorable the Earl Percy, whose force was divided 
into two columns and made its attack in that formation. That nearest 
the Hudson consisted entirely of Hessians commanded by Brigadier- 
General Stirn, and was composed of three regiments. 

The Regiment Erb-prinz, or the Hesse-Hanau regiment, frequently 
and officially known as the Regiment of Infantry of His Serene High- 
ness the Hereditary Prince of Hesse-Cassel, was in point of fact the 
body of men raised by Prince William of Hanau, heir apparent of the 
Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, who acted as ruler of -the principality of 
Hanau, part of his father's possessions. This fine regiment had left 
Wilhelmstadt on the transport "Three Sisters" on 26th-27th March, 
1776, 668 strong, but had afterward given up its grenadier company 
of 112 men and officers, as did other regiments in order to make sepa- 
rate grenadier battalions, and thus went into action with five battalion 
companies, each of ninety-three privates and three drummers, totaling, 
with non-commissioned officers, 540 men, and having sixteen officers on 
the regimental staff. With this were brigaded the regiment of von 
Donop (its colonel, however, being engaged with the northern forces), 
and the Regiment von Mirbach, both having about the same strength, 
and all three having seen bloody work previously in the Long Island 
battle. This column, included therefore, about 1,600 men. The right 
column which Major- General George Jones commanded, was composed 
of two brigades, each of two British regiments. That known in 
orders as the Third Brigade, included the Tenth and the Thirty-seventh 
foot regiments, and that known as the Fourth Brigade, the Thirty-eighth 
and the Fifty-second foot, in all probably about 2,600 men and officers, 
preceded along the highway by a troop of the Seventeenth dragoons, 
and accompanied by their field artillery. 

On the north, which was the right wing of the general position, was 
the German division under Knyphausen, who had under him about 4,130 
men from Hesse-Cassel, and in addition the fine regiment of 670 men 
from Waldeck. Probably one regiment or two were left in camp across 
the King's Bridge, and in this way may be accounted for several men- 
tioned by Carrington and other historians, which do not appear to have 
taken part in the advance, namely the regiments von Stein, von Dittforth 
and von Nessembach or Wissenbach. Those under arms were at first 
formed into two columns, the left under Major-General Schmidt, the 
right under Colonel Rail ; each of four regiments. The left consisted 



The Composition of the Armies. 9^ 

of the regiments Knyphausen, Wutginau, Huyne and Bienau, the right 
of the regiments Rail, Alt von Lossberg, Waldeck, and Lieutenant- 
Colonel von Koehler's grenadiers. While waiting the signal to advance, 
a new disposition was made, and the division advanced to what eventu- 
ally proved to be the heaviest part of the work of the day divided into 
three columns, and made its attack in three-column formation. 

The left advanced along the post-road, accompanied by a field bat- 
terv as far probably as where the gasworks are now situated, under the 
command of Major-General Schmidt, and included the grenadier regi- 
ment Rail, not directed by their colonel, who was acting as brigadier 
in charo-e of the right column. This regiment was known to be com- 
posed oi bad material, hastily gathered by the Landgrave to fill the tale 
of men required by his contract. With this column also went the fusilier 
reo-iment von Knyphausen, named after the division commander, and 
the regiment of the Landgrave otherwise known as the Wutgenau, all 
preceded by a company of feld-jagers or chasseurs, a body of men 
recruited from the hunters and game-keepers of the German forests, 
?nd utilized with effect as scouts from their ability as sharpshooters, part 
of the company being mounted. They were commanded by Captam 
Aledern of the Wutgenau regiment, who fell mortally wounded dur- 
ing the day. Knyphausen's own column, the center of the three, which 
took its way across the farm lands and marshes on the present line of 
Broadway toward Fort Tryon, and undertook the direct assault on the 
position, was also preceded by an avant-garde of 120 of the feld-jagers 
and forty picked men of the grenadiers, 160 in all, under a Captain 
Bornin ; the whole skirmish line being under the general command of 
Colonel' von Donop. Three regiments composed this column, von 
Huyne, von Bunau, and the fusilier regiment known as the Alt von 
Lossber- afterward captured at Trenton, but which now was selected 
to be led'personally by the general, and formed, with the Rail regiment, 
the guard to receive the captured garrison. 

The redoubtable Johann Gottlieb Rail, colonel of the regiment of 
that name, in the defeat and capture of which he was to fall a victim 
to an American bullet only a few weeks later, was a burly and deter- 
mined German of the old school of hand-to-hand fighters, known for his 
reckless fighting qualities and obstinacy in battle not less than for his 
capacity with the bottle. Colonel Kemble describes him as, "noisy but 
not sullen, unacquainted with the language and a drunkard. On 
account of the sickness of Colonel Bose, he had been placed m charge of 
a brigade on November 10 and thus, no doubt at his own request, he 
was selected to lead the brigade column of the right whose share m the 
day's proceedings would be the heaviest and most dangerous. The 
heavy battery of the Hessians composed of 12-pounder guns and 



92 Fort Washington, New York L,n\'. 

howitzers, all of great weight, was to be taken round the rough hillside 
of Spuyten Duyvil creek and hauled up to the summit of Inwood Hill ; 
there to be brought into action against the little guns of Fort Tryon. 
The First Grenadier battalion, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel von 
Koehler, about 520 men and officers, and the Waldeck regiment of 670 
men and officers, formed this column, and was preceded by 100 picked 
men of the jagers under Major von Decliow. Having cleared the Cock- 
hill fort of its little guard, brought the guns into action near the site 
of the present House of Mercy, they followed up their success by 
advancing along the Hudson shore and getting in the flank and rear 
of the defenders of Fort Tryon, storming it successfully where others 
had failed, and eventually made their way to a point between Fort Wash- 
ington and the river, where their presence cfifectually contributed to cut 
off the retreat of the garrison. 

The fighting of these two regiments under Rail's command earned 
"the admiration of the whole British army," a tribute credited in more 
than one account to the Regiment Rail, which while it no doubt bore its 
share of the fighting around Durando's and along the east flank of the 
Mount, was more likely to have formed part of those who were there 
twice repulsed by the fire of the Southern men under Moses Rawlings. 

The capture of Mount Washington was therefore effected by a 
force in actual action amounting to about 10,800 men, with reserves of 
about 3,600 more, a total of 14,400 in the combined armies. 

The forces opposed to this combined army consisted only of that 
garrison which had been left on the withdrawal of the American arm\- 
and a small detachment sent over during the afternoon preceding the 
culminating event. 

The men who defended the mount against this considerable force, 
were directed by Robert Magaw, commanding the entire post known as 
Fort Washington, and Colonel of the Fifth Pennsylvania regiment, a 
man of Scotch-Irish extraction, native of the town of Carlisle in Cum- 
berland countv, Pennsylvania, in which district he had recruited the 
men of his own regiment in the early part of the year. For many years 
he had been in good practice as a lawyer in his native town, and had 
acted as Attorney for the Crown on numerous occasions, but on the 
commencement of the agitations which culminated in the Revolution, 
warmly adopting the cause, of liberty, he was selected as a member of 
the county committee formed to take action upon "the great objects of 
the public attention" and was soon one of the most active spirits in 
organizing a resistance to British misgovernment. Less than a year 
later he had entered into active service as Major of Thompson's bat- 
talion, with which he marched from Pennsylvania to Cambridge and took 
part in the siege of Boston. Returning home he organized the Fifth 



The Composition of the Armies. 93 

Pennsylvania from men of his own county, and was soon ordered to 
New York, where he and his men were stationed at Fort Washington. 

At the critical period after the Battle of Long Island he brought 
his fine regiment opportunely to the aid of his compatriots, and was in 
charge of the covering of the embarkation of troops. During the period 
of occupation of the Heights his legal knowledge was engaged in sev- 
eral courts-martial, and the dependence placed on his active exertions 
is demonstrated by the fact that he was not only maintained in com- 
mand of the central fortification all that time but was in charge of the 
vitally important operation of blocking the tide-way, and was finally 
selected by the commander-in-chief as the man to whose charge the 
defense of the entire locality was entrusted. 

His second in general command after the withdrawal of the army 
was Lambert Cadwalader, a comparatively young man of thirty-three 
vears of age, who was a native of 'irenton, N. J., and held as Lieutenant- 
Colonel the acting colonelcy of the Third Pennsylvania Regiment, 
largely composed of young men of good family of Philadelphia, among- 
whom were David Lennox, Alexander Graydon, and a number of others 
of Scotch extraction. 

His regiment, which numbered about 800 men, had been com- 
manded by Colonel Shea, who had, however, abandoned the command, 
and resigned his commission while on leave of absence. It had seen 
some service also at Long Island and had done well in resisting the 
British advance on October 27. 

The combination of volunteers known as "The Flying Camp," was 
a body of Pennsylvanians, chiefly men of Scotch-Irish birth, descendants 
of the hardy frontiersmen of Bucks, York and Lancaster counties, 
sturdy Presbyterians to whom the principles of the struggle strongly 
appealed, and whose aid in the emergency of the demand for troops had 
been spontaneously afforded. They had volunteered from the ranks of 
the Pennsylvania militia when that heterogeneous body had marched 
into Jersey and were now gathered on Laurel Hill, under the general 
command of William Baxter, a Bucks county man, seconded by Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Michael Swope. The force included detachments known 
as Watts' and McAllister's battalions, and at the last moment a rein- 
forcement from part of the same organization quartered on the Jersey 
shore was added in a battalion which had been known as Montgomery's, 
but which had been 11 nd was actually commanded by Thomas Bull, its 
Lieutenant-Colonel. 

Among the officers of this corps were many men of education and 
position. Robert Darlington, a lieutenant in Watt's force, was "a ripe 
scholar and a polite gentleman," whose care in captivity received the 
attention of Washington, and Samuel Culbertson, a captain of Bull's 



94 Fort Washington, New York City. 

force, is described as a man "of fine literary abilities." Several of the 
companies had seen fierce fighting on Long Island, and that of Gerhart 
Graefif had lost all but eighteen of its number. The entire force 
amounted to about 500 men and officers. 

A small force of about 250 Connecticut men of Bradley's regiment 
continued with the garrison and were quartered on the southern front, 
together with about no men of the "Rangers," or "Congress's Own," 
Knowlton's old command, which company had for weeks past done con- 
stant service as scouts, to the value of which the post commander testi- 
fied when their removal was at one time contemplated. 

The most aristocratic and best equipped body of men left in the 
garrison came from the South and included Colonel Haslett's Delaware 
boys, who had done much of the garrison duty around the fort. 
Previous to and at the time of the assault the South was also repre- 
sented by a small regiment of 600 men composed of the remnants of the 
two corps of Maryland and Virginia riflemen which had escaped their 
comrades' fate in the fight at Brooklyn, had taken a prominent part m the 
Battle of Harlem Heights under Major Leitch, and, now gathered under 
the command of Moses Rawlings ranking as Lieutenant-Colonel, were 
conspicuous elements in the camp life of the army. This force con- 
tained some veterans of the Colonial campaigns, and notwithstanding a 
certain amount of assumed superiority and foppishness in details of 
dress, which had at times caused some antagonism between them and 
their ragged comrades of the Eastern militia, they bore hardships and 
sickness without complaint or desertion, and in the end proved, to a man, 
heroes of the defense. 

Finally, a small body of artillerymen of the force gathered for the 
purpose in the early summer, who had exhibited a wonderful ability at 
their work on several occasions, was in charge of the cannon of the forti- 
fications. At the final affair the men were only about one hundred in 
number, these having at least forty pieces to serve. Among the com- 
mand was a man named John Corbin, a Pennsylvanian of York county, 
probably a Scotch-Irishman, his wife Margaret or Margery accompany- 
ing him, whose heroic exploit is described later. 

The entire force of defense was thus composed of about 2,800 men 
and officers. The names of some have been preserved, notably of the 
rank and file of the little band of Congress's Own Rangers, commanded 
by Lemuel Holmes, and of the privates of that company of the Third 
Pennsylvania commanded by George Tudor, who made such an effective 
defense against the attack of the Highland battalions. Captain 
McCarter of McAllister's battalion led his men in resistance and fell at 
their head mortally wounded. Ensign Barnitz of Swope's had both legs 
broken, he being one of the little band of eighteen men commanded by 



The Composition of the Armies. 95 

Gerhart Graeff. A ]ist of all the names of those present, while appro- 
priate, would be too lengthy for this description, and it can only be said 
of them that from humblest to highest all alike did their share where 
opportunity served.. Overpowered, outnumbered, and outmanoeuvred, 
they put up at any rate as good a defense as was practicable, and for every 
one that fell their enemy had to record at least three times as many. 
Exhausted, hungering and thirsting, their tears and curses, when they 
found that the fort on which they had placed so much faith had proved 
a trap in which they were caught, were not for themselves but for the 
harsh necessity of giving up of the fort committed by their beloved 
leader to their defense. 



96 Fort Washington, New York City. 

XI. 

THE HOUR OF FATE. 

While the gloom of night still shrouded the scene, and before the 
first streaks of dawn appeared over the Fordham hills, the men of the 
German troops were aroused and turned out in the chill darkness on the 
low grounds before the partially repaired Kings bridge, where the flat- 
boats, in which many of them had already made eventful trips, were 
lying, manned by British tars. 

The regiments of Lossberg, of Knyphausen, Bienau, Huyne, 
Rail, and Wutgenau in turn were ordered forward, and while 
part entered the boats for a short ferriage across the little creek, others 
were making their way over the temporary and insecure staging witk 
which the bridge had been repaired, and, all joining such of their com- 
panions as were already lodged on the extremity of the Island, were 
formed up at first in two divisions, the westward or right under shelter 
of the woods that extended around the foot of Marble Hill, under the 
command of the redoubtable Colonel Rail, and the eastward or left 
formed up in the open farmlands along the highroad under the direction 
of Major-General Schmidt, the whole of course being directed by Lieu- 
tenant-General Wilhelm von Knyphausen. 

Their lofty brass-mounted caps, surmounting wigs powdered with 
flour and tallow, and their fiercely blackened moustachios over their 
heavy chin straps set off the brilliancy of uniforms not yet dulled by a 
year's service. Coats of blue with broad pipe-clayed belts covered yel- 
low flapped waistcoats, and their yellow breeches were strapped into 
black gaiters extending above the knees. 

The regiment of Waldeck turned out from the ruins of Fort Inde- 
pendence, where they had been quartered, and descending to the neigh- 
borhood of the Farmer's bridge, were ferried across and formed upon 
the extreme right of the westward division, with the picked grenadier 
battalion commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel von Koehler. 

The services of the tars in their flat boats were no sooner rendered 
to the German forces than they were required again to re-embark the 
storming force which they had brought in their adventurous trip from 
Bloomingdale. This force was apparently bivouacked in concealment 
under the close brushwood of the hillside near the foot of the road which 
extended from the ford or shallow part of the Harlem up through what 
is now known as Fordham to Delancey's Mills on the Boston post-road. 
Composed of the famous Light Infantry and Grenadier Guards, it 
formed a brigade under the command of Edward Matthews, then a 



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Briga(licr-( ieneral, whose i^allant career, to which his share in this clayV 
events added lustre, was destined to end ere the Revolution liad run its- 
course in an awful death in the far East at the hands of Tippoo Sahib. 

The boats were taken to the point where the men were ready for' 
embarkation, whose advance had been arrani^ed to be the signal for the:' 
opening of the action and b\- which the other movements were to be 
timed. Rut owing to some lack of foresight on the part of the general 
staff, a vexatious dela}- occurred, for the boats could not reach the shore 
on account of the low tide, the effects of which had not been reckoned on. 

The advance guard of the Hessian Ijrigade, however, taking time 
as their guide, pushed their way forward into the Inwood hillside, and 
a party under Ensign Joseph Wiedeshlat had already proceeded some 
distance up its sides when recalled by direct order from the division 
general. Had the Hessian force been permitted then to push forward, 
it was the judgment of the young officer above referred to, who after- 
ward was engaged in the thick of the hand-to-hand fighting, that the 
losses of the Germans would not have been so severe, presumably 
because, under cover of the early dusk they could have avoided the 
zone of fire of the riflemen among the rocks and trees. But the incidence 
of the order of the several attacks was a positive part of the British 
General's plan, and the German army was formed up and waited all the 
early hours of the day for their signal to advance. 

At the hour of 7, however, the battery of heavy field pieces lodged' 
in what was afterward known as Eort No. 8 on the University Heights' 
promptly opened fire upon the wooded sides of Laurel Hill, and their 
heavy detonations echoed over the Heights, bringing every American- 
soldier to the alert. For several hours these sounds, increased by the' 
explosions of the Hessian field battery which was advanced along- the 
post-road to near the house of John Post, was the only result of the 
elaborate preparations. The rain of shot and shell on Laurel Hill must 
have been severe and that on the slopes of Fort Tryon hardly less so to- 
the scanty forces crouching behind rocks and trees awaiting some oppor- 
tunity of reply to the fierce hail of missiles. Ere the Americans could 
make out in the morning mists the disposition of their foes in these 
directions, another discharge of thunderous sound came from the north- 
west, as His Britaimic Majesty's well-handled little frigate "Pearl"' 
came tacking from ner anchorage near Riverdale and let fly at Laurel 
Hill with her ponderous artillery. Parts of shell and great bar shot that 
have been disinterred at Fort George evidence that the ship must have 
come about near the end of the little Inwood valley through which a view 
of Fort George is to be obtained, and at this long range flung her terrible 
missiles charged with nails and spikes upon the rear of the boys of the 
Flying Camps patiently waiting what should befall. 



98 Fort Washington, New York City. 

The morning wore on, and at about half -past 8 another battery 
opened from the flanks of the Westchester hillside near Woody Crest, 
the field pieces of the left division of the British center. It was now 
clear day and the first shot was aimed with deadly intent at a little 
group of anxious American officers who, somewhere near Head- 
quarters, were watching the fusillade upon the Laurel Hill a mile and_a 
half north of them. 

Another two hours elapsed before the appearance on the Blooming- 
dale Heights of the Hessian column, and on the Harlem plain of the 
British Brigade, whose field pieces soon began to add to the burden of 
sound now surrounding the devoted defenders of the Mount, as these 
imposing forces, deploying slowly with military precision, advanced 
into the Hollow way, and along the Harlem lane into the Albany 
post-road. 

And now the rising tide from the Hudson is being felt in the 
Harlem and the fateful flat boats received their burden of eager infantry 
who, crowding them to the gunwales, with fixed bayonets, were rowed 
down the river to the landing point near Sherman's creek. The same 
tide swelling the waters from the East river rose against the lower side 
of the dam of MacCombs mill, and helped a little flotilla of ships' barges, 
which, urged by another crew of tars, were boldly hoisted over the dif- 
ference in level and set afloat upon the upper water towards the scene 
of crucial action. Here they made their way to the little creek opposite 
173d street and embarked two battalions of the renowned Forty-second 
Royal Highlanders, their gallant commander Lieutenant-Colonel Sir 
Thomas Sterling, we may be sure, at their head. For many a fine 
brawny fellow that was the last boat trip he ever took, and had the force 
hastily made available to oppose them numbered anything like the same 
force, very few of them could have returned to tell the tale of this attack. 

Under the furious fire from Fort Number Eight, directed overhead 
into the wooded flank of Laurel Hill, Matthew's force of Light Infantry 
were borne along by the sturdy stroke of the oars of the man-o'-war's 
men, who drove their boats into the opening of Sherman's creek, where 
■the infantry, springing ashore, spread around the foot of the hill near 
the line of 194th street, where now the Speedway widens on its turn 
towards Inwood. 

Plunging into the marshy banks under brisk fire from the Penn- 
sylvania men behind the wet rocks and trees, the gallant light infantry 
men charged, bayonet in hand, up the steeps, slipping on the dripping 
leaves falling about them, yet protected somewhat as they advanced 
from the fire of the guns and riflemen overhead by the very precipitous 
cha -acter of the ground. 

Their advance covered the landing of the grenadier guards who on 



The Hour of Fate. 99 

the return of the boats were embarked, and were probably almost 
imiiiolested by the defenders of Laurel Hill who were then full> engaged. 

This impetuous onset of nearly two thousand alert and active 
trained light infantry, already somewhat accustomed to the conditions of 
American warfare, whose advance was preceded as they clambered 
upwards by the hail of grape and round shot from the batteries across 
the river, was resisted only by the detachments of Pennsylvania volun- 
teers strung out through the woods and manning the redoubt known as 
the Laurel Hill fort on the brink of the hillside, the guns of which, 
though they dominated the creek and river below, formed little protec- 
tion against a force advancing up the flank of the hill. They also held 
the little redoubt across the Sherman creek on the post-road, but this 
being taken in rear by the success of the British, was necessarily 
promptly abandoned, though its gun was removed in time to prevent its 
capture. 

The British advance, which might almost be better described as a 
clamber, proved irresistible. The swarming infantry men, unencum- 
bered with much accoutrement were backed by the giants of the guards 
battalions, who in turn, had they required it, would have been supported 
by the Thirty-third regiment, held in reserve on the east bank of the 
river. 

The details of the defense have been only vaguely described, but its 
nature can be gathered from the fact that Baxter, personally encourag- 
ing his men in hand-to-hand conflict, was run through by the sword of a 
British officer, and died thus gallantly his face to his enemy, his body 
being left in their possession. Over his grave, which his foes, not inap- 
preciative, are said to have marked with two rough boulders, a beer 
saloon forms a present shelter, and the least appropriate recognition of 
this good servant of the cause of liberty will be made when sympathetic 
hands mark the spot, which is near the line of ig2d street, close to the 
redoubt, demolished only in recent years, which he helped to defend. 

The resistance was stubborn. Of Swope's force, the company com- 
manded by Captain Jacob Dritt lost heavily, and Ensign Barnitz was 
wounded in both legs so severely that fifteen months later when 
exchanged he was carried to his home in York county on a litter. Cap- 
tain McCarter of McAllister's battalion was mortally wounded and his 
company suffered severely. 

As their commander fell his men retreated, and Matthews and his 
men found themselves almost before they had been expected to do so in 
possession of the commanding hilltop, on which the guns of Fort 
Washington opened, across the wooded depth in which the post-road 
wound its hidden way. 

Pushing cautiously forward, Matthews' force opened out and made 
their way slowly westward toward the Mount, and also working south 



loo Fort Washington, New York City. 

to the present position of High Bridge, they joined hands with the Scotch' 
force, whose adventures must later be described. 

As this attack on Laurel Hill proceeded, events had advanced else- 
where. The Hessian main or left division stood at attention until the 
British could be descried on the summit of Laurel Hill but part of the 
right column had moved forward under Colonel Rail, and followed 1)\' 
the heavy field battery and howitzers had struck up the Cockhill. and 
meeting but a few opponents had easily turned them out of the little 
fort on the summit. 

Pushing their wav over to the river side the Waldeckers and the 
grenadiers turned southwards along its wooded and precipitous flank,. 
and soon found themselves at Tubby Hook, now the end of Dyckman 
street, above which rose the steep height we now know as Fort Tryon. 
Its precipitous sides were marred by obstructions of i)iled stones and 
felled timber and brush, forming three abattis one above the other, 
behind which the riflemen of the Maryland and Virginian combined 
regiment were ensconced. 

On the summit of this hill, which is now intersected by the Fort 
Washington Ridge road, on a commanding eminence overlooking the- 
Hudson as well as the eastern sides, the American engineers had con- 
structed the small redoubt, with a breastwork of boulders across the 
summit from west to east, which was considered as the north extension 
of the main fort, and was not otherwise designated. 

Its present title is the complimentary designation bestowed upon it 
by the British, and it seems remarkable that the name of a governor by 
no means particularly distinguished and certainly in no sense com- 
mendable as a ruler of New York, should be retained for a spot that 
should be peculiarly dear to the hearts of Americans. As Fort Tryon, 
we are, however, compelled to refer to it, and in it at the time of 
the assault a few artillerymen of the company under Captain Pierce, 
handled the two small cannon with which it was armed. Of these men. 
one was John Corbin, a Pennsylvania private. He was accompanied 
by his wife, a woman whose devotion to her husband had led her to 
make the long journey from their home, to share with him the priva- 
tions of camp life on the Heights. Now during the thickest part 
of the fighting which ensued, as men fell around her, and hands were 
needed to work the guns, she took a man's part in cleaning and loading 
until, at the most desperate juncture, her husband fell dead at her feet, 
stricken through the breast by the bullet from a German musket. Then, 
animated by the emergency, she took the gun into her own charge, and, 
while her feelings must have been agonized with sorrow, loaded and fired 
the gim herself, "with skill and vigor," until a charge of grape shot, 
whistling up from the field battery below, passed around her, three of 
the shot striking and tearing her in a terrible manner. 



The Hour of Fate. ioi 

The Hessian main body, amonnting to about 4,000 men, had 
now advanced from the neij^hliorhood of the Kinj^'s bridge, Schmidt's 
division taking the Hne of the post-road, preceded by their detachment 
of scouts and the field artihery, which latter at first came into action 
near Post's farm at 212th street and afterward advanced probably to 
the site of the present gas works near the line of 200th street, in which 
locality parts of gun limbers and various sized cannon balls have been 
discovered. The remaining part of the right division was taken by 
Knyphausen across the farm lantls, making directly towards the lofty 
hillside on which the southern riflemen awaited them with grim deter- 
mination. Plunging into the marshes and wading through the long 
rushes, whose long brown stalks hid the treacherous surface, this bodv 
of men bravely advanced, and re-forming over the present site of 
Inwood village, were sent in charging formation at the hillside. A 
withering fire from the cover of rocks and trees met their advance, and 
the men retired. A second storming advance was formed, probably 
from the supports arriving on the scene, and was again broken, though 
Knyphausen in person led his men against the steep defense, tearing 
down with his own hands the abattis of brushwood, and climbing over 
the rocks with such hardy exposure that his officers marveled that he 
was not killed by the hail of bullets around him. The riflemen could be 
seen as they fired, and then ran from cover to load to another cover, to 
fire again, each man knowing that if caught no quarter would be shown 
him, inasmuch as concealed riflemen were by the stern militarv usage 
of the times, to which the German force had lieen trained, entitled only 
tf) the mercy of the bayonet. 

Meantime, Schmidt's division had moved up, and from it men were 
spared to extend along the eastern flank of the hill, where still the 
wooded steeps bear the same character they then exhibited, while Rail's 
command pressed hard upon the Hudson side. The little defending 
force thus were almost surrounded, but with stubborn determination 
repelled the assaulting parties by their accurate shooting till their guns 
became too hot to handle or too foul to load. The cannonading was 
described 1)\- linsign Wiedeshlat as being terrible. The marksmen evi- 
dently ])icke(l oil the officers. Captain Medern of the Wutgenau and 
his Lieutenant, von Lowenfeld, both fell mortally wounded. Colonel 
von Bork and Captain Barkhausen and Lieutenant Briede of the 
Knyphausen, were all mortally wounded, and Captain Walther of the 
Rail regiment was killed, with many others. 

For more than two hours this conflict raged unceasinglv, and was 
observed by Washington with the most intense and hopeful interest, 
during which period events on the south side were transpiring which 
can now be appropriately described. 



I02 Fort Washington, New York City. 

XII. 

THE DEFENSE ON THE SOUTH. 

In the accounts which have been pubHshed of the battle of Mount 
Washington, very scanty descriptions are given of the events which took 
place at the south side, and the impression is afforded, either by infer- 
ence or directly, that the defense on this side collapsed through incom- 
petency or cowardice. These views have been formed by lack of 
understanding of the position and nature not only of the enormous duty 
imposed upon the slender defending force but of the circumstances in 
which they were placed. A closer study of the part which they played 
in the afifairs of the day will prove of interest in correcting these mis- 
apprehensions, and will show that theirs was no unusual or ill-advised 
action. 

We may here repeat the description of the line of defenses com- . 
mitted to the charge of those composing the right wing of the American 
army which consisted of those three lines of earthworks formed right 
across the heights, composed of trenches and embarkments formed into 
the semblance of small redoubts. The advanced outposts occupied the 
small breastworks on the edge of the hillside overlooking what is now 
Manhattanville and another on the Point of Rocks at about 127th street, 
overlooking the post-road as it approached Breakneck Hill arising to 
the heights, just above which the first line of works zigzagged across 
the heights about the lines of 145th to 147th street on the west, thence 
eastward to 147th street, ending just across the post-road on its east side, 
and following the contour of the rising ground, which may still be 
faintly traced in that vicinity. 

We learn from the interesting though somewhat pessimistic recol- 
lections published after the Revolution, by Captain Alexander Graydon, 
that the first line was only "a slight intrenchment with a few weak 
bastions, without platforms for cannon, and furnished with no other 
ordnance than a few old iron pieces of small calibre, scarcely fit for use, 
and an iron six-pounder mounted on trucks." The second intrench- 
ment also crossed the heights almost on the lines of 154th to 155th street, 
occupying the rocky eminences now enclosed as part of Trinity Church 
cemetery, on one of the retaining walls of which, in Broadway, a tablet 
appropriately marks this interesting locality. On the east side this line 
ended in a redoubt or battery located on the edge of the bluff near where 
Troger's road house now stands at St. Nicholas place, from which point 
the present handsome viaduct descends towards the Macomb's Dam 
Bridge. 



The Defense on the South. 103 

In one of the batteries, probably that at this point, there was an 
eighteen-pounder gun, which may have been that which had done 
service in the preceding naval engagement. It seems doubtful however, 
if it came at all into action, though the British refer to it as an element 
of the defense which opposed them. 

The third line, then in an incomplete state, had been laid out as 
intrenchments extending across part of the Island from 159th street on 
the west to i62d street on the east. It was formed around a bat- 
tery on the abrupt hill on which the old Lewis homestead is now 
falling into decay, overlooking the commencement of the Boule- 
vard Lafayette. Extending eastward, the line crossed the Fort 
Washington avenue on a ledge of rocks still to be followed, probably 
embracing an old barnyard, the wall of which exists on the east side of 
Broadway at i6ist street. The line then extended towards and nearly 
to the post-road abreast of Colonel Morris's residence, ending where 
i62d sreet now intersects the St. Nicholas avenue, and whence the new 
electric road diverges from Amsterdam avenue on its way to Inwood. • 

The command of all these lines was, as we have already recorded, 
committed to Lambert Cadwalader, acting colonel commanding the 
Third Pennsylvania regiment, who was then but thirty-three years of 
age. Under him was Lieutenant-Colonel Will Butler, one of that famous 
fighting family of five brothers of the Cumberland valley, and Major ■ 
Thomas Church, while Captains George Tudor. Thomas Byles, and 
Alexander Graydon, commanded companies. A detachment of no 
men of the Connecticut "Congress's Own" Rangers— which had been 
commanded by Thomas Knowlton and had taken a prominent part in the 
Battle of Harlem Heights— were employed as scouts and marksmen. 
They were commanded by Captain Lemuel Holmes of New Hampshire 
with Lieutenants Oliver Babcock of Stonington and Jesse Grant of 
Litchfield, the former of whom should ever be remembered for his care 
and attention to the sick prisoners in New York, to which he fell a victim 
by disease. The whole force comprised only about 800 men, including a 
re-inforcement of a hundred militia which reached the lines during the 
engagement which ensued. 

"I think," savs Graydon, "it was between 7 and 8 o'clock when 
they gave us the first shot from one of their batteries on the other side 
of the Harlem river. It was well directed at a cluster of us that were 
standing together observing their movements ; but it fell short by about 
ten or fifteen yards and bounded over the spot we had precipitately 

abandoned." 

"About 10 o'clock in the morning," as he relates, '"a large body ot 
the enemy appeared in Harlem plains preceded by their field pieces, and 
advanced with their whole body toward a rocky point of the heights," 



I04 I'oKT Was I IT. xerox, Xkw ^"ork City. 

that is. I'oint of Rocks, "wliich skirted the plains in a southern direction 
from the first hne and at a consideral)le distance from it." On the west 
the Hessian cokimn, wliich Graydon could not of course then distin- 
guish, came north from Filoominf^dale, and descending the Claremont 
hill to the Manhattan valley, then known as the "Hollow way," rushed 
the little work on the height above. 

"The British, meanwhile." commencing a brisk fire on the small 
work constructed on the point, "drove out the party which held it, con- 
sisting of twenty men. and took possession of it, the men retiring with 
the picket guard to the first line. They killed a man of the pickets on 
the front and dro\'e the pickets in." 

He then tells how the enemy advanced in column while an advanced 
party "pushed forward and took possession of a small unoccupied work 
in front of the first line, from whence they oj^ened their fire with some 
field i)ieces and a howitzer." without efl:'ect. The Americans, waiting 
until the attacking force came within range, opened a fire from their soli- 
tary etitective piece, the wheeled six-pounder, "on which the whole 
column took post behind a piece of woods" on their left where, he says 
they remained. It was just at this time that Washington, Greene and 
the other generals were making their way towards the Morris house to 
observe the course of events, and Greene noted that the enemy made 
several marches to the right and left; "I suppose to reconnoitre the 
fortifications and the lines." Graydon relates that it being supposed 
the enemy intended to attack from behind the wood, that side of the 
intrenchments was strengthened, and says they slowly began to form 
behind the verge of the wood, giving an occasional discharge from their 
artillery. 

It was at this critical juncture that a hasty report reached Cad- 
walader of the eml)arkation of the Highlanders on the Harlem, with the 
evident intention of taking his forces in the rear, and from his scanty 
force he detached fifty men under the command of Captain David Len- 
nox to oppose the landing. 

Word was evidently sent back by this officer that he had a large 
force to resist, in point of fact the entire Forty-second Regiment, then 
800 strong, and again Cadwalader weakened his little forces by "a 
hundred more with Captains Edwards and Tudor." leaving but 550 in 
all with which to hold nearly a mile of front. 

To the details of the Highlanders' part in the afl^air we must return 
later, and continue to follow the course of the events on the south front 
with Captain Graydon. 

That officer proposed to his commander that he should throw his 
company into a small work or ravelin about 200 yards in advance of the 
main intrenchment, which must have stood about on the line of 143d 



The Ukkkxse ox the South. io^ 

street, near r>road\vav, close to the west of the propertx' of the Colored 
Orphan Asylum, which on taking possession they found to he hut knee 
high, affordino- no protection, and so were ohliged to ahandon it. 

On this the Hessians emerged in column and opened a scattermg 
and ineffective fire, heing apparently very poor marksmen, and Graydon 
and his men were sent over to the right to protect the Hudson side ot 
the hill, and were stationed just where the high ground hegan to declme 
abruptly towards the river. Cut off from view of the fiehl of action, 
he did not see the general advance of the enemy, but General Greene's 
account is that "the enemy l)egan a severe cannonade with several field 
pieces. Our guard soon fled, the enemy advanced up to the second hue," 
and at this juncture Washington arrived on the scene. 

••There we all stood," he relates, "in a very awkward i)osition. A;^ 
the disi)osition was made, and the enem>- advancing, we durst not 
attempt anv new disposition, indeed we saw nothing amiss." But a 
few minutes changed the view of the situation, as the advance of the 
assault on the banks of the Harlem was heard, and pinched between the 
two forces, both Cadwalader's men as well as the general and his staff 
were in imminent danger of capture, and a very little delay might easily 
have resulted in an event which would have entirely turned the course of 
the Revolution. 

"We all urged his Excellency to come off— I offered to stay. General 
Putnam did the same, and so did General Mercer, but his Excellency 
thought it best for us all to come off together, which we did about half 
an hour before the enem}- surrounded the fort." 

This would seem to involve the officers having fallen back with the? 
line of defenders along the line of the ••river road," a farmer's track 
through the woods parallel with the present Eort Washington avenue,- 
probablv below it near the new Boulevard Lafayette, and it may be pre- 
sumed their boat met them at or near Jeffrey's Hook. They were hastily- 
pulled across to the Jersey shore, and ascending the heights, observed 
the further progress of the engagement from the edge of the Palisades, 
^leantime, that part of the Third Pennsylvanians on the Hudson 
side were concealed from the course of events, and only learned, by the 
retirement of their neighbors on the hill top, that a retreat was in 
operation. 

Ciravdon sa}s his company retired in good order, •"which is more 
than I can sav of my neighbor or his corps," who thus may appear to 
have been the men that gave General Greene occasion to speak of their 
retirement as a '•disorderly retreat." Graydon asserts of his corps that 
his men "•were always obedient and ready to partake of any danger." 
As the whole body fell back on the 155th street line the little forces 



io6 Fort Washington, New York City. 

opposiiii^- the Highlanders in the rear were drawing in towards it from 
the idarlem river side, fighting fiercely around the Morris house. 

It has been in most accounts assumed that Cadwalader's men, taken 
in panic at the fight behind them, fell back of their own volition without 
resistance, but from the personal account of Lieutenant-Colonel Bull, 
which has come to hand lately, we find that acting as Aide-de-Camp 
to Magaw, and mounted on one of the two horses in the American com- 
mands, he was sent by that commander "to call in Colonel Cadwalader." 

Magaw had previously sent Bull with a detachment to aid Lennox 
in his resistance, and, therefore, was aware of the imminent danger of 
the forces of Cadwalader being caught between two fires. It was, there- 
fore, at the orders of the commander that the Pennsylvanians retired 
from 155th street, and so stubbornly did they face the enemy, that before 
word could be conveyed to Graydon, on the far west side, his company 
was nearly caught by the advance of a mounted corps, presumably the 
troo]) of the dragoons. 

The Highland attack had by this time reached a point south of the 
Morris house near 159th street, and the defending force, abandoning 
the third line at 159th street, which were thus of course taken in rear, 
pursued "the road which led to the fort under the heights by the North 
river, arriving there with little or no loss." 

( )n his way back, Colonel Bull "took on his horse behind him a 
wounded soldier and brought him into the Fort." 

This road of retreat is not shown on the maps of the engagement or 
of their period, and was probably a mere track through the woods about 
on and in part a little above the line of the present Boulevard Lafayette. 
The British map shows the British forces following the line of the post- 
road, and the Hessian column a line nearly parallel to the Fort Wash- 
ington avenue. It was probably therefore, the Hessian Brigade which 
was engaged with Cadwalader's men, as "battling all the way," they fell 
back through the woods to the fort." 

Lord Percy's column slowly advanced along the post-road, the 
piquets working their way through the woods on either flank, through 
which whistled the occasional bullets of American sharpshooters while 
the round shot from the fort and from the field batteries screeched 
through the timber. 

The road from the Morris House to the fort had very few signs of 
human habitation. The "white house'' hard by was soon entered and 
utilized as a resting place, the Highland wounded probably being con- 
veyed there. At about the line of 169th street was some sort of a build- 
ing, probably a wooden barrack, and the Oblinus farmhouse stood just 
west of the road at 179th street. Ere this was reached the British 
advance was stayed, pending the result of the fighting at the north. 



Thk Hi(;h landers' Surprise. io7 

XIII. 
THE HIGHLANDERS' SURPRISE. 

In the various descriptions of the attack on Mount Washington 
hitherto puhhshed brief reference only is made to that part of the assault 
upon the Heights, which was in the British accounts described as the 
"third attack, intended as a feint." Little detailed attention has been 
o-iven in anv histories to this most important element m the day s opera- 
Tions and scant justice afforded to the gallantry displayed on both sides. 
There has even been some doubt as to the precise locality where this 
affair took place, owing to the vague way in which the several writers 

have described the scene. ^ . . , r ^u 

The most definite evidence is, of course, the British map of the 
operations prepared by Claude Sauthier "immediately after" the event 
by the order of the Right Honorable Earl Percy, which aims to show the 
lines of the advance of the several branches of the atacking forces. 
While the maker of the map is remarkably well informed m the general 
details of the locality, it is nevertheless probable that the position of 
certain forces must be taken as that which they occupied at some part 
of the action and does not exhibit the whole of their movements, i his 
can be shown to be the case with the part played by the 800 men of the 
Forty-second Regiment of Highlanders, who, under the command of 
their colonel, Sir Thomas Sterling, and supported by two battalions of 
the Second Brigade, broke in on the center of the east front, being the 
weakest part of the American position, and certainly turned the scale 
of the fortune of the day against the defending forces. 

The British map shows the point of their embarkation to have been 
a little creek on the Morrisania side of the ''Harlem creek," as the map 
describes the river, exactly opposite the lh:e of 173d street, and which 
although now almost obliterated by a dock and by the line of the rail- 
road, may yet be traced in the marsh exposed at low tide. 

The course of the boats conveying this force is marked on the map 
to a landing at another little creek on the Manhattan shore which is 
placed evidently too far to the north, almost parallel with Fort Wash- 
ington, but an examination of old maps before the Speedway was con- 
structed shows that precisely such a formation existed exactly at the 
north side of the foot of High Bridge, opposite the point of embarka- 
tion and at the foot of a steep ravine. 

On the other hand, the written accounts of General Greene and the 
personal narrations of Captain Alexander Graydon both agree in the 
statement that the attackers gained the heights at or near the Morris 



io8 Fort Washington, New York City. 

HoiTse, which is located on the line of i6ist street, while in his written- 
report General Howe said they dropped down the river. 

The apparent contradiction may not be so in reality. The boats, 
must have made more than one trip, and the attacking force on landing 
in all probability spread out, and while part charged up the line of the 
zigzag lane in the gorge which now emerges on Amsterdam avenue at 
175th street the major body forced their way southwards trying to find 
a way up between the precipitous rocks of High Bridge Park, which 
overhung the old marshy verge of the river and still exhibit the enor- 
mous strength of the position at that point. Probably they found their 
way up through the gorge or ravine which is formed bv the stream at 
165th and i66th streets, which would bring them on the sumiuit just to ■ 
the rear of the headquarters building. 

Standing on the edge of "Edgecombe" avenue the outlines of this 
depression can still be traced and will be seen to be the only place of its 
kind affording a reasonable chance of access up the bluff. 

Reforming on the summit, we learn "they immediately advanced 
and took possession of the ground in advance of and a little below (that 
is, southwards) Morris house," and a sharp fight ensued as they came on ■ 
the rear of the forces guarding the south or right wing of the general 
American position. 

Some part of the force may have made or attempted a landing at 
the base of this ravine which was in those times a marshv formation at 
the foot of the brook that the spring thaws and fall rains swell to a small 
cataract. This would account for the divergent descriptions of the 
landing place, but it is evident that the boats did not come as far south as 
155th street, as has been in some accounts alleged. It was no doul)t in 
these ravines leading down to the Ijridge and the Speedwav that the 
bloodshed at the boats of which we are told took place. 

The little half company under Captain David Lennox arrived on 
the bluffs just in time to gain a view of the extent of the force they were 
expected to oppose. Reinforced by one hundred men under Tudor and 
Edwards, they arrived on the heights near Morris' house earlv enough 
to fire on the enemy in their boats. The Americans were no mean 
marksmen, and although there were but 150 of them to oppose 800, tlK-\ 
accounted for between 90 and 100 killed and wounded Highlanders: 
among whom their gallant Major, Alexander Mcintosh, an officer with 
a fine record in Colonial wars, fell at the head of his men. 

Fired by the resistance, the Scotsmen rushed upwards, and, from 
being "intended as a feint " in the British commander's scheme, the 
attack developed by the impetuosity of the troops, with the exception' 
of the three charges at Fort Tryon. into one of the ])loodiest affairs of 
the revolution. 



The Highlanders' Surtrise. 109 

While the affair was ]M-oceedino-, Lieutenant-Colonel l^ull, acting- 

"as Magaw's aide-de-camp, brou.ght up a re-inforcenient of two com- 
panies of militiamen, the latest that had arrived from Fort Lee, but 
arrived onlv to find that Lennox had been driven back to " the White 
House." This was the farmhouse on the west side of the post-road just 
south of headquarters. The reinforcement arrived therefore too late 
to be of service and was not engaged. They got under cover of some of 
the earthworks and were surrounded and taken prisoners. Of this fig:ht 
General Howe said the position was well defended by the rebels, though 
his general reference to it is confined to the statement that 150 men, "with 

■one eighteen-pounder. opposed 800 British, under cover of a battery." 
The mention of this gun has been perhaps, the cause of the error in 

Tocatitig the landing at LSS^fi street, where the nearest part of the 
American line was located in which it is possible a gun ot this calibre 
was available, and which may have been turned to the rear for a short 

"lime. 

The Ih-itish ma]) shows some kind of fortification on the American 
side on the crest of the bluff' at al^out ijgtli street, and an examination 
of the features of the locality indicates that there may have been slight 
defences on the rocky summit on the lines of i/Sth and 179th streets, 
just on the west side of Amsterdam avenue, in a wild, neglected piece 
of scrubwood, which is at present the haunt of tramps and behind which 
a little squatter's cottage is hidden from the view of the passers-by. 

As the Scotsmen fought their way up the wooded and rocky hill- 
side overlooking the Harlem river towards i62d street, and "gained the 
heights, a sharp contest ensued." The resistance was stubborn and 
determined. It was Scot against Scot, for the defending force was com- 
posed of man)- of that blood, and was under the command of a Lennox 
and a Mclntire. Some thirty of them were cut off and captured and a 
number were wounded. 

Near the house of Colonel Morris were the huts in which had 
been quartered a considerable part of the American force during the 
svmimer and fall of '76. They were arranged in two lines running 
east and west near the post-road, about on the line with i62d street. As 
the Americans retired the Highlanders took the cover of the huts and 
thence commanded an easy descent towards the rear of the second line 
of intrenchments at 155th street, which from the want of men was 
entirely without defense. 

They did not, however, advance at once, for they imagined the 
enclosed bastions contained concealed forces. But Cadwalader and his 

■ officers evidently and properly considered that they would promptly 

< close in on the rear, and it was. then that the retirement was ordered from 

Tthe first line. 



no Fort Washington, New York City. 

"They hesitated," says Graydon, "and this being perceived from the 
delay that took place, Colonel Cadwalader, to avoid the fatal conse- 
quences that must have resulted from the expected movement, imme- 
diately resolved to retire to the fort with the troops under his command." 

It was no disorderly affair. Orders were sent to the right and left 
of the line to retire on signal, which, after a proper interval, was given, 
those on the left retiring obliquely towards the center of the second line, 
or at about the present entrance of Trinity Cemetery on Amsterdam 
avenue. They passed the line, which of course was taken iti the rear. 
and, still advancing, "came opposite the enemy posted at the huts," 
received their fire" and returned it irregularly, but held back the British 
till they had passed. 

As the junction took place between the Highlanders aifd Karl 
Percy's advancing forces, around the space between 155th and i6oth 
streets, and the united commands advanced to follow the retreating 
Americans over the hillside towards the Hudson, Graydon and Forrest's 
company was nearly cut oflF and though the men escaped along the edge 
of the Hudson in Audubon Park, their two ofificers, who had gone up 
the hill to see what the situation was, found themselves surrounded, and 
seeing no alternative but surrender, clubbed their fusees in token of sur- 
render and advanced towards the Highlanders. Their signs were per- 
haps mistaken or the soldiers were not ordered to cease firing, as they 
became the target for a fusillade until they came within fifty yards of 
the Highland line, and Graydon remarks how astonishing it was that 
"these blunt shooters could have missed" them, coniparing them sar- 
castically with the excellent marksmen on the American side. 

Resigning their weapons to an ofiicer of the Forty-second, he put 
them in charge of a sergeant, who solemnly volunteered to them in broad 
Scotch dialect, as he took them away, the rebuke, "Young men. ye 
should never fight against your King." As they stood disarmed under 
his charge, a British ofiicer of rank rode up at full gallop, and excitedly 
exclaimed, "What, taking prisoners? kill them, kill them; everv man of 
them." 

It may be remembered that in the military law of the period the 
garrison taken in an assault was subject to be put to the sword, as the 
old term was, and that at the summons of surrender Howe had threat- 
ened the garrison with this result in case of resistance. It is certain that 
many a poor fellow lost his life at the hands of the Hessian forces that 
day by refusal of mercy after he had surrendered to them. The British 
had perhaps been instructed otherwise after Magaw's reply, or in a 
general way were more humane. 

Graydon seeing the risk he ran immediately dofifed his hat and 
making him a bow said to him, "Sir, I put myself under your protec- 



The Highlanders' Surprise. m 

tion," a rebuke which effectually calmed and softened the officer, who, 
after a question as to the position of Fort Washington and the where- 
abouts of its commander, rode off. This scene seems to have taken place 
somewhere near the head of Audubon Park and Broadway, and the 
Hessian force then coming up, the captive officers were subjected to 
brutal threats and vile language on the part of some of the lower class 
of the hired soldiers. 

Graydon and other officers, then amounting to nearly. fifty in num- 
ber, were marched to an old stable or outhouse, which may very prob- 
ably have been located at Broadway and i6ist street, where the walls 
of a barnyard still exist, bearing evidence of considerable age. Here 
they were examined to see if any were deserters from the British forces, 
an imputation which they seem heartily to have resented ; were subjected 
to intolerable abuse, and were ordered about by men of inferior rank, 
whom Graydon describes as "contemptible whipsters." For the greater 
convenience of guarding them, they were later removed to the barn of 
Colonel Morris' house, which residence was then being utilized as tem- 
porary headquarters by the British commander. The barn probably 
stood some distance to the rear or north of the house, about on a line 
with i66tli street. 'Tt was," says Graydon. "a good new building," 
which, during the time of Washington's use of the dwelling, must fre- 
c^uently have sheltered the mounts of himself and the few aides who 
possessed such a luxury as a horse. 

Here during the morning, as more and more captives were taken, a 
body of 150 to 200 prisoners was crowded, a motley group of officers and, 
privates, regular and militia, continental and state, some in uniform, 
some without, and some in hunting shirts, that mortal aversion of the 
redcoats. By the latter some of the officers were plundered of their hats, 
and others of their coats. The non-commissioned officer on guard was 
but an ill-looking, low-bred fellow for a member "of this dashing corps 
of light infantry," as Graydon descril^es him and them, and, as his 
prisoner stood near him at the door, to obtain air, crowded and hustled 
him till he expostulated, when clubbing his fusee to strike the defense- 
less man, he exclaimed : "Not a word, sir, or I'll give you my butt." 

"As to see the prisoners was a matter of some curiosity, we were 
complimented with a continual succession of visitants, officers of the 
British Army," some of whom were present when a Sergeant-Major 
came to take formal account of those captured. This may be assumed 
to have been during the time when the advance of the British awaited 
the result of the Hessian attack then proceeding on the north, and 
officers would be coming and going between the front and headquarters. 

As the sergeant sat with his pen in his hand and his paper on his 
knee, he applied to each officer in turn for a description of his rank, with- 



112 Fort \\'ashixgton. New York City 

out actual insolence, but with "that animateil degagee impudence which 
belongs to a self-complacent non-commissioned officer of the most arro- 
gant army in the world." • 

A little squat officer, a native of York county, Penn., the home of 
the meu of Scotch-Irish descent composing Swope's detachment of the 
Flying Camp, who had lost his three-cornered beaver, and had received 
in exchange only the crown of a dirty old hat, when asked his rank, 
exclaimed in a '■chuff'" firm voice, "I am a keppun," at which a general 
laugh ensued at his expense, putting both captors and captured in a 
better humor. The afternoon wore on and the fighting ceased. 

The day was seasonably cool, "yet from the number of men 
crowded into the barn, the air within became oppressive and suft'ocat- 
ing," a foretaste for many a poor fellow of what he was to endure later 
,on in New York. 

The excitements of the day and the lack of air produced on the 
prisoners an excessive thirst, "and there was a continual crv for water," 
to which the soldiers on guard appear to have humanelv responded, 
bringing water in a bucket continually. But though those "who were 
about the door did well enough, the supply was very inadequate to such 
a numl)er of mouths, and many must have suft'ered much." 



Till-: Assault of thk Mount. 113 

XIV. 
THE ASSAULT OF THE MOUXT. 

The course of events previously described, upon the east and 
southern sides of the central fortress, had so far been uniformly to the 
advantage of the assaultino- forces, with the exception of the severe loss 
of life and limb incurred by the Highland battalion, which evidently 
caused the victorious forces to move forward with great caution. Their 
progress from each direction brought them gradually around the 
Mount on the south and east, as the Pennsylvanians and the Con- 
necticut Rangers, retreating before them, crowded into the outer and 
inner lines of the main fort, to the inconvenience of those already posted 
there and of the artillerymen who were actively engaged in replying 
to the field batteries of the combined l)ritish and Hessian forces. The 
men were, in coiUemporary accounts, blamed for this course, but it does 
not seem that anv other point of defense was open to them, no intrench- 
ments having been ])rovided between lOoth street and i8ist street, or 
anv specially advantageous ground existing either in that direction or 
on the comparatively level ground to the east of the fort towards Wash- 
ington Bridge. 

^loreover. the general order had been distinctly made known 
directing the defense to hold the other lines as long as possible and then 
to f-i'l l)ack to the I'ort. an order doubtless known to all the subordinate 
officers. 

That the men hatl done their best to stem the advance is evidenced 
by the fact of their extreme exhaustion on reaching the fort, where the 
need of water soon began to be felt, the only available supply being, we 
may stippose, the little spring and stream at the foot of the glacis, behind 
the present property of Holyrood Church ; a supply, however, which was 
exposed to musketry fire from both sides. 

Statements were also made when the bitter result became known 
that Magaw failed to get the men to re-inforce the brave Southerners 
who were still staving ofif the Hessian advance at the north end of the 
hill. That there may have been some who, in the exhaustion of their 
state, thus failed in their duty is probable, but inasmuch as for a con- 
siderable time thereafter the entire British advance on south and east 
was held in check, it would seem that the whole force must have been 
fully engaged where they were. The relics of severe fighting have been 
foimd all along the line of the valley, from i8ist street north to the rocks 
abreast of Fort Tryon, and local tradition records desperate fighting 
having taken place all along this half-mile of precipitous hillside, the 



114 Fort Washington, New York City. 

defenders having in places rolled great boulders on their foes, the posi- 
tions of which were for long pointed out. The evidence of military 
relics show that British troops were engaged here as well as Hessians, 
and the probability is that the Guards and Light Infantry came over 
from Laurel Hill, and joined hands with the men of Schmidt's division 
in asaulting the hillside. 

At its extreme head, the valley on the line of 183d street narrows 
to a mass of rocks, which face down its length and in which a cleft 
exists, locally known as the Hessian or Death "Gap," where it is stated 
they were mowed down by the Americans behind the rocks and the 
trenches on the hillside above. 

Every probability of locality is in favor of tradition in this case, 
and in the valley immediately below the bones of many dead have been 
upturned in years gone by. All this fighting could not have been carried 
on onlv by Rawlings' men, so that a large part of those crowded in and 
around the fort must have taken part in it. 

The day had worn on, and during the two hours of the forenoon and 
into early afternoon the fighting at the north end of the Mount had con- 
tinued unabated. Two successive charges had been organized by the 
Hessian commander and had been repulsed, and now the crucial effort 
was to be made. Under cover of the hail from the heavy guns of the 
"Pearl," now tacking to and fro on the Hudson, the von Koehler grena- 
diers and the Waldeck regiment had pushed their way around the Hud - 
son side of the hill and were well on the flank if not the rear of the little 
fort on its crest. The men of Knyphausen's column were reformed 
near Dyckman street and at the word again swarmed up the difficult 
hillside near Durando's. They did not find now so steady a fire to face. 
The numbers of the riflemen were thinned, and others had no effective 
weapons, fouled as they were with the ceaseless firing of hours of resist- 
ance. Against the bayonets of a numerous foe a clubbed rifle was of 
little avail, and the men retreated on the supporting line of earthworks 
above. But many stood their ground. Says John Reuber of Rail's, 
"We were obliged to creep along up the rocks, one falling down alive, 
another shot dead. We were obliged to drag ourselves up by the birch 
tree bushes up the height where we could not really stand." Men 
dropped all round. The little paddock in the hollow of the hill south- 
wards from the Abbey Hotel has borne mute testimony to the fierce and 
bloody fight, when from time to time the bones of many dead have been 
turned up on its surface. 

But to three sides at once the little band could oppose no longer a 
serious resistance. Rawlings was wounded in the thigh, his faithful 
major also struck down, and the decimation of the artillerymen silenced 
the little guns as Margaret Corbin fell. The crowning moment had 



The Assault of the Mount. ^S 

arrived. The rush of the grenadiers and Waldeckers proved irresistible, 
and with their hardy commander at their head they swarmed up the hill- 
top over the breastworks bayonet in hand. As they reached the sum- 
mit the fighting colonel ordered the bugles blown, and shouting "For- 
ward ! all that are my grenadiers," led his men cheering "Hoch !" over 
the earthworks. So determined was the defense that assaulters and 
assaulted were crowded together, all mingled in confusion on the com- 
paratively level ground around the Chittenden residence, now the resi- 
dence of Mr. Francis Thayer. Germans and Americans ran together 
in the direction of Fort Washington over the ridge. 

It is in full view of the Palisades across the river, and it is for these 
reasons that this may be assumed to have been the scene of butchery 
witnessed by Washington, which it is related drew tears to his eyes. 
He was certainly at this time watching with the utmost anxiety the 
course of events from the summit of the blufifs, and on seeing the final 
collapse of the stubborn defense at the north, he hastily pencilled a 
note of final direction to Magaw and handed it to Captain John Gooch, 
an aide of known courage, who promptly made his way to the shore and 
was rowed across the river. 

The excited Germans, plying the bayonet among the retreating 
Americans, forced them back towards Fort Washington, where the guns 
of the men in the northerly trenches afforded them protection from 
further slaughter. The Waldeckers, taking advantage of the situation, 
pushed their way along the river front and, covered by the precipitous 
nature of the ground, got between the fort and the water, their main 
body coming to a halt about a hundred yards from the fort on the line 
of 185th to 187th street, while the column under Knyphausen's leader- 
ship came over the hilltop within musket range of the outer breastworks, 
behind which the exhausted Southerners had found refuge. Below, 
on the easterly side the men of the Wutginau and Rail regiments rolled 
back the line of their opponents and halted under the steep hillside below 
the Death Gap, taking what shelter they could find from the fire from 
the fort. 

A large stone barn existed on the hill north of the fort, the precise 
location of which it has not been possible hitherto co identify, behind 
which Knyphausen and his staff collected while the troops weie halted, 
and Rail, whose men had earned the distinction, was directed to send 
forward a demand for surrender. A breathing spell was desirable for 
both officers and men. 

Calling a company commander to him, Rail said, "Hohenstein, you 
speak English and French, take a drummer with you, tie a white cloth 
on a gun-barrel, go to the fort and call for a surrender." 



!ii6 Fort Washington, New York City. 

"I did this at once." relates the captain, "but they kept firing at me 
.and the drummer till we came to the glacis, that is, the foot of the slope 
probably just opposite the old Fisher residence, where the hill com- 
mences to ascend to the Bennett house. The boys behind the earth- 
works finally perceived the errand of the ofiicer, and ceased firing, when 
a party came out to learn his mission, and binding his eyes they led him 
within the outer defense, and sent word to the post commander. Colonel 
Cadwalader came down to him, and Hohenstein, who appears to have 
Ijeen very fully authorized to make terms, made him the following pro- 
posal : "He should immediately march out of the fort with the garrison, 
and they should lay down their arms before General Knyphausen. All 
amnnmition, provisions, and whatever belonged to Congress should be 
faithfully made known. On the other hand, I gave him my word that 
:all, from the commanding officer down, should retain their private 
pro])erty. Finally, a white flag should be immediately hoisted, to put a 
stop to all hostilities. 

The commander asked for four hours time to consider, which, how- 
ever. I refused, and allowed him only half an hour to speak with his 
•officers." 

The white flag was no doubt displayed, and both sides ceased firing, 
not again to be renewed, while those officers who had survived with- 
■drew into the fort and anxiously conferred with Magaw on their situa- 
tion. Their dilemma was truly unfortunate. Hemmed around on all 
sides, the\- might and probably could put up some further defense for a 
time, but as each commander reported the strength of the forces which 
had been opposed to his post, the hopelessness of a resistance to a bayonet 
charge in force from several points at once, became apparent. Nor was 
there now even a precarious line of retreat. The men of the Hessian 
brigade in the south were massed on the hillside near Depot lane, over- 
looking Jeffrey's Hook, and had no doubt already worked their way 
down into the battery upon that point, which they commanded from the 
rear. There was a bare chance that the Waldeckers had not closed in 
entirely between the fort and the river, but their advance pickets were 
there, and the "Pearl" had dropped down near their position and with 
her guns could have commanded the passage. As Captain Gooch, land- 
ing at the river's bank, clambered the heights, he must have seen the 
jaws of the trap closing on the devoted garrison. 

Coming in on the council just as they had reached the determina- 
tion that surrender was their only recourse, he delivered Washington's 
note, in which Magaw was asked to try and hold out till darkness should 
set in, when the general wouW endeavor to bring off the garrison, prob- 
;ably by attempting some strategy such as had been employed so success- 



The xA.ssault of the Mount. 117 

fully oil Long Island, a very problematical affair, however, in these 
circumstances. 

But the half hour was up and a decision must be made known. 
Determined to leave no effort untried, Magaw went down himself and 
spoke with Hohenstein. 

His eiuotion was visible. "His fate seemed hard to him," says his 
honorable opponent. But delay was a point the captain was not author- 
ized to concede, and Gooch, seeing his presence to be of no further avail, 
and not conceiving himself to be included as a membe.r of the garrison- 
then under flag of truce, turned and boldly made his retreat to his boat. 

His desperate escapade was miraculously successful. Leaping 
down the rocks, and over the brushwood between the fort and the water, 
in what is now part of Fort Washington Park, he actually dodged the 
bavonets of the German pickets, and escaped the shower of bullets for 
which he was the target in his descent, and entering his boat, made his- 
wav to headquarters, and reported the disastrous condition of affairs. 

Magaw's further discussion with Hohenstein produced no conces- 
sion and the latter records one of the commander's remarks which- 
appears to have struck him in reply probably to Hohenstein's promises- 
of better terms b}- surrender to his own commander rather than by 
further delay and negotiation with Howe. "The Hessians" said he 
"make impossibilities possible." 

Finally the captain said, "General Knyphausen is a hundred paces- 
off ; come with me. on my safe conduct, and see if he will give you better 
terms," a suggestion which Magaw accepted, and went out to the barn 
where a very short interview no doubt convinced him that no further 
concession whatsoever was to be gained from the haughty general, and' 
word was passed in to the crowded garrison of the surrender, and as the 
news passed round the men broke into crying and cursing at the giving 
up of the fort. 

There can l)e no doubt that Knyphausen had gained the position 
which fully entitled him to the credit of the surrender being personally 
made to him and his own forces, but it can be imagined to have been- 
rather galling to the officers of the British army then waiting around the 
fort on the east and south, to have had their hired associates, upon whom 
many of them looked with hearty disfavor and contempt, become the 
actual conquerors of the position, and this feeling is rather amusingly 
evidenced in the two maps of the affairs of the day prepared by the twO' 
forces. In the British map of Sauthier, their forces are exhibited close 
up to the glacis between Holyrood Church and the Mount, while the 
Hessian forces are much further removed on the north, while on the 
German map issued by Knyphausen's order, the advantage of final posih 
tion appears, and properly so, on the Hessian side. 



ii8 Fort Washington, New York City. 

That the Hessian general's work was, nevertheless, gener- 
ously appreciated by Howe, seems clear from the renaming of the fortifi- 
cation in his honor, and its allotment to his force as their point of duty. 
But it would seem as if his undertakings were treated with scant regard. 
His emissary promised that the captured force should retain their 
private property, and Magaw stipulated, probably with the general per- 
sonally, for humane treatment. Neither agreement was respected by 
the British authorities in their eventual treatment of the prisoners. 



The Aftermath of the Battle. 119 

XV. 

THE AFTERMATH OF THE BATTLE. 

By about four o'clock the new born banner of freedom was lowered, 
to be seen no more on this spot for seven weary years, and the flag of 
Britain, which had already fallen and risen on Manhattan Island, took 
its place over the fortress, which had induced so much faith in its 
defenders, as von Koehler's grenadiers marched in and took posses- 
sion. Notwithstanding- the terms of surrender promised, and probably 
made generallv known, the reputation of the Hessians for brutality was 
so great that 'the defeated force feared barbarous treatment. When 
Captain von Malsburg, detailed to take possession, entered the lines of 
the fort, he was. he savs, "surrounded with oflficers with fear and 
anxiety in their faces. 'They invited him to their barracks, pressed 
punch^ wine and cold cakes upon him, complimented him on his 
affability, and told him they had not been led to expect such from a 
Hessian officer." 

The men were told to fall in, and were marched out to surrender 
their arms. They must have gone down the lane that led to the fort, 
from the post-road at 181 st street, through their abandoned breastworks 
to some open spaces near the road where they could be mustered for 
their march to captivitv. No doubt this was done in the open meadow 
land southeast of the fort which belonged then to Blazius Moore of New 
York City. There is no other open land even now, for west, north or 
east of the fort the ground falls away abruptly. 

Between a double line formed of the regiments of Rail and Alt von 
Lossberg, the patriots "laid down their arms, and gave up their yellow, 
blue, and white banners, on which Knyphausen looked with disdam." 
As the men filed out, the Hessians not on duty robbed them violently of 
their clothing and belongings, until the British officers took the matter 
in hand for very shame, and diverted the defenseless prisoners in 
another direction. 

Forming into detachments, the dejected prisoners about 5 o'clock 
tramped between a heavy British guard to their fate in the city. The 
official count gave them as 2818 in number, while a later detailed list of 
the commissary department placed the number at 2S58. The dis- 
crepancy was probably due to the wounded, who totaled ninety, and 
many were perhaps at the time of the roll call, still lying out with their 
wounded antagonists under the chill November sky. 

Around the slope of Fort Tryon, and the face of the bluff from 
thence to 187th street, were stretched the dead and wounded of the 



I20 Fort ^^^\SIIINGTON, Nkw York City. 

Hessian and Waldeck forces, and over on the Harlem side of the Laurel " 
Hill, and around the Morris house, lay a score of British dead and five 
times that number of wounded. The price paid in blood for the capture 
of the position amounted to 56 dead and 276 wounded of the German 
forces, 20 dead and no wounded of the British, making 462 casualties 
in all, and including i field officer. 

Of the Americans there were killed, Colonels William Baxter and 
Miller, Captain ^^IcCarter, Lieutenants Harrison and Tannihill, with 
50 private soldiers; and 3 officers and 90 men were wounded, or 147 
casualties in all. 

The relief details were turned out from the various corps, to bring 
in the wounded and to inter the dead. The Hessian wounded lay thick 
around the Mount, many of them cursing their lot, and the dying 
bewailing the fate which had cost them limb and life in a Cjuarrel in 
which they had no interest, beyond a paltry pittance of pay. The dead 
were evidently buried where they lay, or where the presence of sufficient 
earth enabled the body to be concealed. A long trench containing 
skeletons has been recently opened on the center line of Fort Washing- 
ton avenue about seventy-five feet south of i8ist street, which was prob- 
ably the des]:)Ository of those who died in or near the fort. 

The allied losses seemed heavier at the time, and in New York were 
exaggerated to a great extent. 

One Adam Barger related that it was the common talk in town 
"that there was a great many Hessians killed and many of the High- 
landers, he heard an officer that came down with the prisoners tell an 
officer in town, who asked him how many they had lost, who told him 
between 14 and 15 hundred." 

The material loss to the American cause was, as is now more clearlv 
seen in the light of history, the most severe in the entire course of the 
Revolution, and it stands as a monument to the determination, not only 
of those who defended the post, but to those who, in spite of the liitter 
result, persisted in carrying on the unequal contest, the most conspicuous 
instance of that unwillingness to "stay beaten," which in the end brought 
success. 

Some commiseration and respect, even in a city so full of British 
sympathizers as was New York, was shown on their arrival to the men 
who had made so bold a resistance. John McKesson describes the scene 
near what is now Chatham Square. 

"The prisoners taken at Fort Washington were all paraded near 
the Jews burying ground ; they were said to be 2,500 ; no insult was 
offered to them when paraded, nor any public huzzaing or rejoicing as 
was usual on similar and less occasions ; whether this was owino- to the 



The Aftermath of the Battle. 121 

loss of the victors on that occasion is a secret to the common class of 
inhabitants in the city." 

But the poor prisoners who had fought so pluckily may well have 
trembled at the fate in store for them as they marched that sad Satur- 
day afternoon along the high road south. 

Oliver Woodruff, a private soldier, who lived to reach the age of 
ninety, related his own experience, and was confirmed by others. 

"We were marched to New York, and went to different prisons ; 
816 went into the new Bridewell, I among the rest, some into the sugar 
house, others into the Dutch Church. On Thursday morning they 
brought us a little provision, which was the first morsel we got to eat or 
drink after eating our breakfast on Saturday morning." 

The building, a long two-story stone structure, had only recently 
been erected, on what is now the City Hall Park near Murray street and 
was not at this time even provided with shutters to the barred windows. 
"I was there three months," says Woodruff', "during that inclement 
season, and never saw any fire except what was in the lamps of the city. 
There was not a pane of glass in the windows, and nothing to keep out 
the cold but the iron gate." 

These cruel hardships were eclipsed by the suft'erings of the unfor- 
tunates thrust into the Sugar House and the Middle Dutch Church on 
the corner of Cedar and Nassau streets. Stripped of pews and with a 
temporary story constructed at the level of the gallery, the latter build- 
ing was made to house no less than three thousand prisoners, where, as 
John Pintard related, "the prisoners taken on Long Island and Fort 
Washington, sick, wounded and well, were all indiscriminately huddled 
together." 

A little less selfishness on the part of some of the other religious 
denominations, would have relieved some of this shocking condition of 
affairs. 

The Reverend Mr. Shcwkirk, pastor of the Moravian Church, the 
chapel of which stood at what is now Fulton and William streets, noted 
in his diary how on Monday, the i8th of November. British officers came 
to inspect the chapel, and at 4 p. m. there were four hundred of the pris- 
oners from Fort Washington sent to occupy it. While he and others of 
the communion hustled round exerting influence with the commander to 
cancel the order. "The prisoners with the guard stood above half an hour 
in the street before our doors." When at last a countermand was 
obtained he thankfully recorded, "If these prisoners had come in, how 
much would our place have been ruined, as one may see by the North 
Church, not to mention the painful thought of seeing a place dedicated 
to our Saviour's praise made a habitation of darkness and unclean- 
ness." So the poor fellows were turned back to be crowded into another 



122 Fort Washington, New York City. 

already overcrowded "habitation of darkness and uncleanness," where 
typhus and smallpox soon began to rage, and that pity denied to them 
by this minister of the Gospel was shown to them by the poor abandoned 
women of the half-burned town. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Bull tells how, "the enemy marched 
his command about a mile towards New York City to a farmhouse, 
where from Saturday to Tuesday a. m., they were without food, and on 
the latter day proceeded to New York City and were placed in a Metho- 
dist meeting house. 

The next day, after signing a parole, Colonel Bull and his officers 
then had a house to reside in. An unknown gentleman sent him a half 
joe which enabled him to procure board, and an opportunity to visit the 
soldiers imprisoned in the Bridewell, almost every day, where many 
were dead and dying." 

The horrors of the Sugar House, on what is now Liberty street, 
eclipsed all but the abominations of the prison ships. Here in a stone 
warehouse, with such ventilation only as could be gained from narrow 
slits of windows, without light, attendance, fire in winter or air in sum- 
mer, the poor boys perished in hundreds. Fevers, frost-bite and suffo- 
cation made this a veritable charnel-house, the very dead being suffered 
to lie exposed for hours awaiting removal to the ever open burial 
trenches. 

There does not seem any doubt that added to these terrors, the 
inhuman attendants of the sick, deliberately poisoned some, and indi- 
rectly by the use of contaminated food, poisoned others, "for the sake of 
their silver watches or silver buckles." 

In the suffocating heat of summer, said an eye-witness named 
Dunlap, "I saw every narrow aperture of those stone walls filled with 
human heads, face above face, seeking a portion of the external air." 

And we have to remember to the glory of these humble patriots, 
that at any time they could have obtained relief by agreeing to enlist in 
the ranks of those their countrymen opposing the forces of liberty. 

Of all the poor boys taken at Fort Washington who went down in 
health and strength to captivity, nearly 2,800 strong, there remained, 
when an exchange was at last effected, just eighteen months later, only 
800 alive. 

"Although our suft"erings were intolerable," wrote one of the sur- 
vivors, "and the men were urged by those who haf' been their own 
townsmen and neighbors, who had joined the British, yet the instances 
were rare that they could be influenced to enlist" to oppose the cause of 
freedom, and with those few who did, the idea of the opportunity for 
eventual desertion was probably tlie moving cause. 



The Aftermath of the Battle. 123. 

No more heroic devotion has ever been recorded than that exhibited 
bv these plain enlisted soldiers and militiamen. A death in the heat of 
action is a far more simple act than the deadly dying by mches of star- 
vation, suffocation, filth, and disease. 

If the men fared badly, their officers generally received no better 

treatment. . . , 

Lambert Cadwalader, in return for some special service previously 
rendered to a British officer of rank, was unconditionally liberated, and 
some were for a time admitted to parole, but other officers fared less 
favorablv. Perhaps owing to fear of some attempt at escape, their 
paroles were rescinded, and they were crowded into the Provost jail, 
the brown-stone building which still stands on the northeast corner of 

City Plall Park. . 

Plere they were confined under the control of the inhuman Cunning- 
ham and sick and diseased, were herded together so that at night all 
were rcciuired to turn at once on the bare floor, on which room to recline 
could only be found in this manner. Neglected in sickness, slowly 
starved, and kept in close contact with those of their unfortunate com- 
rades suffering from loathsome diseases, their fate was in no degree less 
terrible than that of their poor compatriots of the rank and file. 

A grateful country should find no effort too great, no expense 
undue, that should preserve for all future generations the traces of the 
work of these heroes, the ground around which were laid, unmarked by 
their foes, the bodies of those that died in defense of the charge com- 
mitted to them, and should think it shame that the immediate successors 
of the revolutionary period should have permitted to be destroyed the 
walls wherein the prisoners of Fort Washington passed their weary 
hours of suffering, on which were written and carved many a last and 
only record of the existence of many a poor patriot ere death released his 

spirit. . 

It is cause for satisfaction, that, by the erection of a distinctive 
monument, the actual site of the central position, in and around which 
the dramatic scenes took place, which have been here briefly described, 
has been effectually recorded by the joint efforts of the Empire State 
Society Sons of the American Revolution, and the American Scenic and 
Historic Preservation Society. 

The preservation of the site of the fort itself, and of the interesting 
remains of Fort "Tryon," is a duty that should be felt by every citizen 
of the vast metropolis which has grown from the little town long and 
ably defended by the efforts and sacrifices of the captured patriots, from 
a tyrannous system which would have cramped and retarded its 
development. 

[the end.] 



iWYNKOORi 
MALLENBECK. 
CRAWrOKD CO/ 
ART PRINTERS J 



tJJXUJLLBJUJlUiJiJiJUJ^^ 



FORT WASHINGTON 



AN ACCOUNT OF THE DEDICATION OF THE MONUMENT NOV. i6, 1901, 
AND A HISTORY OF THE BATTLE OF NOV. 16, 1776. 

Ordered printed March i8, 1902. 








LBFe '05 



